Broken Links
by Tweak Tweak
Summary: The Tristan Taylor Discord presents a story about the virtual world of Duel Links as everything goes to hell. A disturbed individual has dug himself into the VR with the intent of destroying Kaiba. OCs, OCs everywhere! This volatile plot includes a mini Bewd (protect your ankles!), creative swearing and shipping from Hong Kong to China (AKA, Kaiba x OC). Please R&R!
1. Manda 1

**Disclaimer:**

 **This story is based on the Tristan Taylor Discord, this fanfiction contains the majority of the people (with permission) and *gasp* actual plot.**

 **I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, the OC/characters presented, or the real people I roped in or Duel Links.**

 **Synopsis:**

 **Duel Links' newest rendition is impressive, that's for sure. But our cast of characters is in for a helluva shock when they discover a virus has made it into the system. Now, they have to duel AIs that have gone insane, from little Bella to outright insane Yami Yugi. Now, this is the game of your life.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

 **Manda**

I glanced down at my phone, needling my lower lip between my teeth. On the screen, my barcode showed up reassuringly; all I'd have to do is show it to the security, get scanned, and then I'd get to go in, and be one of the first people (in the public, anyway) to try out the new Duel Links system. A few others had gathered outside Kaiba-Land, a few quietly chattering among themselves. Those had bought out the first public trial was here. We were allowed to come two hours earlier than the theme park opened and allowed to go straight to the park after, which was pretty impressive, though made me feel exhausted as hell. I'd had to grab a hotel just get here at this time in the morning, considering I lived hours away from Kaiba-Land. I blinked quickly, flipping out a compartment mirror to check my makeup. Still nice and smooth. My brown eyes gazed steadily at my reflection, my face cast with a blue hue. The sun hadn't properly risen yet, considering the late winter. There was still a sharp chill in the air; hence the heavy white coat I was wearing which definitely-had-nothing-to-do-with-Kaiba.

I slipped my phone away and once again glanced at the crowd. The person standing closest to me was a male with a short hair, a ginger beard, and tall stature. He had a good mouthful of teeth (I mean, a sparkling white uncommon from where I had been brought up in Liverpool, England) and an unmistakable American twang. He wore a light green t-shirt and khaki cargo pants. He was talking to a smaller male with thick, dark hair, dense brown eyes, and designer stubble. He, too, spoke with an American twang. They seemed to be getting along well.

There was a female, just a few inches taller than me and rather curvy, her hair dyed a russet tone (her dark blonde roots were showing through) and tied back. She wore little makeup and was invested in her phone, flicking through it quickly, blue eyes darting. She wore simple jeans and a heavy-looking cream sweater, which was probably adding pounds to her figure.

There was another group that would be coming in later in the day. I (and obviously these guys too) had decided to come early to beat the huge crowds that came to Kaiba-Land. It had cost a little extra, but hey, I love stuff like this, and the little voice in my head whispered, "treat yourself," and made my finger slip. Whoops.

I brushed back my hair and sucked in my cheeks to chew on them. Two security guards came strolling down to the gates, taking out high tech phones.

"Hello," one of them, a small blonde, greeted easily, "if you could just get your barcodes up, we'll get you through quickly enough."

The other, a taller brunette, didn't say anything. He had a sour expression on his face like he'd been forced to eat something nasty.

There was a quick kerfuffle as people reached for their phones (the lass that had been swiping it just turned it to face them, barcode already up) and got them up, myself included. As each barcode was scanned, their phones lit up green. I suppose that meant none of us were imposters.

The gates were opened, and in we went. A giant statue of the Blue-Eyes reared up before us, mouths open to reveal a sharp plethora of teeth. It was impressive, even if I had seen it before. A flash of light caught my eye and I twisted around to see the lass taking photos of the Blue Eyes on her phone. Her eyes caught mine and she flushed.

"I'm sorry," she said, "you aren't in the picture, I promise, I just wanted… well. I've never been here before."

She sounded so awkward I wanted to pat her head.

"It's fine," I assured her.

"If you'd come on, we need to get started," one of the guards said, half apologetically.

"Sure," I said, hurrying after them, the lass not far behind.

"I'm Maria, by the way," the lass-now-called-Maria said.

"Manda," I threw back.

We were directed to a large new building, sat among a cluster of shops. It had blacked out windows, curiously enough. We were coerced through the door into a comfortable foyer furnished in dark blue, and the security guard that had initially spoken to use held out a box.

"Please would you turn off your phones and pop them in here," he said, "not to be distrustful, but unfortunately there are plenty out there who might be tempted to connect to the core, steal the software, plant some kind of malware, stuff like that. Please don't worry about your phones, we're putting the box into a safe."

I turned off my phone and slipped it into the box. I pushed my hands into my pockets, stretching my arms slyly and trying to hold back a yawn. God, I felt knackered. I blinked quickly.

"Please take a seat," he said, gesturing to a comfy looking sofa. We sat down, and the TV bolstered to the wall turned itself on.

"Unfortunately, I don't have time to personally meet and greet you today," Kaiba said, his eyes boring into the camera, "so I'm leaving you this recording. You'll be taken to the pods and plugged into the system, where you'll duel AIs and each other in due course. It's as simple as that. When you enter the game, you'll be confronted with the Duel-School teacher commonly found in the computer game version. She will help you get your surroundings. You all have prior accounts on Duel Links, so you all have decks, no matter how bad they are. Enjoy yourself."

"Short but sweet," Maria murmured, leaning back in her chair.

"Mmm," agreed the taller American. He turned to flash us a quick grin, "I'm Alex by the way. You can call me Boxer, though."

"If we're going by the Duel Links names, you can call me Rabbit," Maria said, smiling.

"Ah, Dom. Cube." The smaller American introduced.

"Granny," I said, with a slight shrug, "it's more Discord than Duel Links, but it'll do."

The three of them turned to give me a confused look.

"I'm twenty-seven," I explained. "I get called 'Granny' in groups because I'm usually older than everyone."

"Fair enough," Dom said. I nodded.

The blonde security guard cut in, politely asking us to follow him. I stood quickly, my legs protesting the sudden push (you are talking to someone that actually managed to break their ankle going downstairs, love) and started following him. We cut from the foyer into a large room with several pods.

"Oh god, it's like Alien," I joked, glancing around. There was no visible reaction though doubtless more than one of them had at least seen or heard of the film. No takers? None? Well damn.

The security went round, cracking open each pod and directing people into them. I climb into it, feeling slightly claustrophobic, and settled down. The lid closed tightly.

"In the same way your duel disks can connect to the Duel Monsters holograms, this machine will be able to connect with your brain and Duel Links. Your brain is essentially an organic machine," I could hear one of the guards explaining to someone they were strapping in. I strained, trying to see who it was to little avail. "The gas that will flood the pod contains little nanobots that will flood into your brain and connect with it."

I'm really not sure if they're making that up or not. I squinted, trying to relax. My heart thumped quickly in my chest, my breath stupidly loud in my ears. Stop panicking, I told myself. There was a low hissing noise. I squeezed my eyes shut and took in several deep breathes. When I opened then, I felt a little ill. It was like the loading screen for Duel Links, with the blue blocks rushing around me. White letters formed in front of me, reading out my Duel Links code and name.

"Loading may take some time," a calm, female voice stated. "Two to three minutes or so. Please be patient."

It's not like I had a choice at this point. I glanced down and grinned. At least I was still wearing my flash white coat. In just a few minutes, I'd be dueling the crap out of everyone, shouting out the most cringe one-liners I could think of. I chuckled and then winced. The noise echoed several times, bouncing back at me.

Oh, that was awful. I wondered if any of the others had panicked once they were sealed into the pods. A few cards fluttered in front of me landing on the so-called ground. I leaned down and flipped them over, one by one, reading the cards. God, this is just like an update on Duel Links. The cards disappeared once I'd turned them all, to be replenished momentarily.

"We are now ready," the voice announced. It took a blink. That was it. A blink and I'd come from floating squares to the actual damn plaza in Duel Links. I swallowed thickly. The ground was sturdy cobblestone beneath me, leading up to the fountain. I strode towards it quickly and pushed my hand under the water. It was cool and refreshing on my palm. I splashed a little on my face, closing my eyes. Wow, that felt good. A bubble of laughter caught in my throat. This was amazing. It was honestly so real. I couldn't actually find a single fault in it, visually. There was a light clicking from behind me. I turned to face the source, only to see a slender woman wearing a suit. The Duel School lady. Her red hair was twisted up into her signature style, gleaming in the sunlight.

She smiled. "Hello, Manda."

"Hello," I said, sounding slightly breathless.

"In a moment, the AIs will be available to play. They are just loading while I give you this introduction." She held out her hand and a blue orb appeared in it, pulsing with light. "Please, accept this gift. Once you touch it, it will transfer to your account. If you wish to see your orb, number and gem count, you need only ask for the subject and the number."

"Thank you," I said, reaching out to touch it. It burst the moment I laid finger on it. "Erm, orb count."

Blue text appeared before me, reading out, "20 orbs."

The Duel School lady smiled encouragingly, "good job. The gateway is available in a similar way; you need only ask for it."

"Ah, thanks. Oh, do you know when I'll see the others again?" I blurted.

"You and the other players will be directed to play at the PVP arena once you have completed a few duels."

I nodded quickly. "Right."

She hadn't stopped smiling once the entire time I'd been talking to her, I noted. Her smile had only even gotten bigger or reduced slightly. It was somewhat creepy. I chewed the inside of my cheek, allowing my eyes to roam away from her. The trees were a definite contrast to the world outside. In the winter, our trees had shed every leaf and had been reduced to bare bones. Here, they were relentlessly cheery.

"Hey…" a sickly sweet little girls voice said. "Would you like to duel me, please?"

I glance down at the young girl who had seemingly come out of nowhere. Bella, I remembered, a smile growing on my mouth. Nice.

"Err, sure," I said, tucking my hair behind my cheek.

She beamed, her eyes squeezing shut. She was like an over-exaggerated chibi little girl, eyes startlingly wide and sweet, just like the game.

"Don't be mad when you lose, okay?"

I swear I almost did a double take. Well, damn. I hope they don't all have that spunk, or I'll get annoyed real fast.

"Five duels," I reminded myself, cracking my knuckles and giving her a stink-eye. "Let's do this shi-sugar."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Please feel free to check out our discord and meet us. Please R &R, and yes, we are aware there are many OCs in this story. The original cast in Yu-Gi-Oh will eventually show up. If this isn't your cup of tea, that's fine. **


	2. Boxer 1

**This story is based on the Tristan Taylor Discord, containing the majority of people and *gasp* an actual plot!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, the original characters/characters resembling the likeness of the Discord Group, Duel Links, et al.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Boxer**

It really was surprising how much detail had gone into this place, I thought, strolling down the street. I stopped to look at a small advertisement for Mooyan Curry set up outside a shop and peered in through the thick glass. There was an actual AI in there, Mickey, sitting at one of the low tables. He wasn't eating, per say, but he had a half-empty bowl in front of him. I rattled the door-nob loudly, exhaling when it refused to give. Mickey seemed like he hadn't heard me at all, not looking up or twitching. I supposed it was just like a little video on repeat, not really eating but just existing there, in that space, to make it seem like people actually lived in the Duel Links.

I turned around, glancing at the other shops. There was a costume shop with an "opening soon!" sign stuck onto the window. I ambled over to it. Despite that it wasn't open, there were various outfits on display, including Legendary Duelist outfits. Their way of making you feel invested back into the characters considering you couldn't physically appear like them in this version, I guessed. I smiled slightly. There were even jackets based on different duel monsters, like Kuriboh and Kaiba's Blue Eyes.

So... clothes, food, accessories, drink shops. Did that mean that there were food and drinks you could actually eat and taste or was it yet another thing, just for appearance? I cracked my back, pressing a hand against it. Well, I kind of wish they hadn't bothered to go so far as to add in physical pain. It seemed a bit much.

I'd already defeated three of the AIs. They were the same as the computer Duel Links, still easily smashed by my Six Samurai deck. I was little smug about how easy it was. It was so much nicer, as well, to have the duel open up whenever they were (which, in this case, was between the shops) rather than to bounce us away to the blue-screen. The card slots appeared on the ground and the two of us had walked away from it. The monsters weren't as big as they usually appeared when they were in the duelist arenas that Pegasus had set up. I mean, I'd seen them in action at several Arenas, and they were honestly awe-inducing. Our voices were amplified to ensure that we could hear each other. Just like the computer Links, however, the AI seemed to have predetermined phrases, no matter what I said to them.

I hummed heavily, shoving my hands into the pockets of my cargo pants. Is it worth ambling over to the card shop, or to the card trader? Or was it just going to be the same cards, as usual, the same I'd glanced over last night? That would be somewhat disappointing, like a new version of a game with barely any DLC. I dashed a hand across my brow. I hadn't expected it to get so hot here, and yet it felt like the sun was beating down hard on the back of my neck, raising droplets of sweat. Not exactly pleasant.

"Phew," I muttered, breathing out a heavy sigh.

Down the street, there was a bundle of bottles and an AI of a young, brunette woman wearing a dark blue KaibaLand security uniform stood next to them, smiling eerily. None of them seemed to stop smiling when you weren't in a duel. It was creepy as hell.

"Buy a drink?" The AI said cheerfully.

I paused next to the stall. "Drink?"

"Mm-hmm! There's a variety of flavoured drinks available to keep you comfortable between duels! Mister Kaiba would really like your opinion on them, so he can work on improving them!"

"Ah... sure." I scanned the black chalkboard next to it, reading the list so carefully written in chalk

"Orange soda," I said finally.

She handed over a bottle (branded with the KC label, might I add). I twisted the lid, snapping the seal, and took a huge swallow. It tasted like the cheap store-brand version at home, which was, in all fairness, how I liked.

"It's Mister Kaiba's favourite too!" she confided, leaning in and cupping her hand over her mouth as though it was a big hush-hush secret. My brow twitching, itching to rise at the implication. I really don't think Kaiba would drink this. I thanked her and moved on. I passed by several AIs just wandering around. They looked at me, meeting my eye, and froze on the spot whenever I got too close to a cluster of them. I suppose it's so I could pick one out of the group. Two more AIs, I reminded myself. Then I can go to the PVP Arena and find the group from earlier.

I spotted Mickey in the AI crowd and pointed at him.

"You there! It's time to duel!" I shouted in my best Kaiba impression. I'm not gonna lie, I do a great Kaiba voice. The other AIs backed off, dispersing down the street.

Mickey beamed up at me, his slight frame and young babyface not even vaguely threatening.

"You're on!" he cried.

I smiled, walking away as the card-zone activated.

Seeing as I usually played as Joey, I was able to immediately activate my Fields of Warriors skill. My hand appeared in front of me, revealing The Six Samurai-Irou, Yaichi, A Hero Emerges, and Metalmorph. A good opening hand. I set Metalmorph and A Hero Emerges.

"I summon Six-Samurai Yaichi in attack position," I declared, "I end my turn."

Mickey drew a card and then activated Hamburger recipe, tributing Dokurorider to summon Hungry Burger in attack position. So far, so good. This is what usually happens, after all. He set a card.

"Hungry burger, attack his Six Samurai Yaichi!" he cried.

"Not so fast! I activate A Hero Emerges! This allows me to summon Six-Samurai Irou to the field."

The Hungry burger hit Yaichi, knocking me down 700 life points. I winced as a hot breath of air shot back as my monster exploding into shards. That just left me with Irou on the field.

"That's my turn over," Mickey smiled.

I drew Ebon Steed and activated it, equipping it to Irou.

"Attack his Hungry Burger!"

I then equipped Metalmorph to Irou.

Mickey yelped as he received 1300 points of damage, leaving his current LP at 2700. Compared to my current LP, 3300, we were 600 points apart.

"I activate jar of greed," he said, sounding slightly shaken, drawing a card.

"I end my turn," was my only response.

He set his card in the spell/trap zone and ended his turn. It was actually slightly depressing to see his face fall.

"Your turn."

I nodded, drew a card. Ebon steed. I activated and set it to Irou.

"Attack him directly," I said again. He received 2600 damaged straight to his points, leaving him with just a hundred.

"I activate jar of greed," he said flatly.

"And once again, I end my turn."

He drew another card and set a monster in defense mode, ending his turn.

"I can turn this around!" He insisted.

I drew Shien's Castle. Ignoring it, I ordered Irou to attack his face-down card. Sonic Bird flipped up and burst into ashes. This was going to be my final hit. I could feel it.

I drew Shien's Scheme, and similarly to the castle ignored it. I didn't need it to defeat him. My lips turned, twisting into a smirk, and I threw out my arm, pointed at him, and shouted, "Attack his life-points directly."

His points rolled down to zero and he gave an ear-splitting cry, falling back dramatically. When he'd finished, he looked up at me with a relentlessly cheery smile.

"Thank for the duel! I'll get better next time!"

He scampered off abruptly. My level and stage appeared in the place of the card-zone, showing my level climb up, and then the whole thing disappeared as if it had never been there.

Well. I shrugged. That was four of them down, and one to go.

I uncapped the bottle and took another swig. At least the liquid was nice and refreshing as it flowed down my throat. I let out a sigh and chucked the bottle into a nearby bin.

"Can I get you a drink?" The drinks lady asked again, beaming.

"Uhhhh..."

"Well," she said, "I can tell you now, this one," she plucked a random bottle from the stall without even looking, "is Mister Kaiba's favourite."

I paused and looked at the bottle, which was most definitely not Orange Soda, but Lemonade. I actually wanted to chuckle. I guess every drink here is, "Kaiba's favourite." She looked at it and then looked at me, her smile growing to show her white teeth. Oh damn, she got scarier. I looked at hesitantly and slowly reached out to accept it.

"Uhh… thanks."

I took the opportunity to go in the opposite direction. Duel Links was pretty fun, I'll admit that and it was pretty cool just being a part of this whole place, but damn... those AIs were just getting worse. I decided to go down towards the card shop. The Card Trader wouldn't be fair, and I hadn't seen the Vagabond hanging about here yet if he actually was available in this version. I would have thought that he would be though, so he probably just hasn't appeared yet.

I had to laugh when I spotted Kaiba stalking around near the shop, white coat flowing around him and a scowl firmly set in place on his face. He just looked like the epitome of an angry, angsty teenager who thinks the world owes them. I noticed the card-trader not far from him, just stood there in his oversized black coat. He just reminded me of the merchant from Resident Evil Four. Any minute now, he'd cracked open his coat and go, "what are you buying?"

"Welcome to the game," Kaiba barked, as I passed him by, "come duel me if you really want a challenge."

I snorted and twisted around, "if you even think you have a chance for a second, it's a second too long."

In terms of AI, I'd kicked Kaiba's butt more than he could count. I still remember when I had to tag-team with him as a part of Duel-Links too. I actually wanted to choke the life out of him. My deck counts on me having multiple monsters and he just sacrificed it to summon his precious Blue-Eyes. I scowled. He could keep his hot-shot skill to himself. I've always been a Joey fan. Joey may not be perfect, but at least he doesn't always have a massive stick up his ass.

I grimaced just thinking about it.

I entered the shop and paused. Unlike the computer Duel Links, where all the cards where just there in a list, these cards were stacked up high in endless packs, with special cards that may be in the deck show-cased above them. It was like a bookshop for cards, but better than the usual card shops I'd seen. With the number of cards in here, I could probably fill two cars. I mean, damn. I blew out a quick sigh and swallowed. There were more decks in here then there was in the computer game. It was time for some serious browsing.

* * *

 **Thank you for your time and patience. Please R &R if you enjoyed. 3**


	3. Cube 1

**Disclaimer:**

 **This story is based on the Tristan Taylor Discord, this fanfiction contains the majority of the people (with permission) and *gasp* actual plot.**

 **I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, the OC/characters presented, or the real people I roped in or Duel Links.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

 **Cube.**

I was the first person to get into the PVP Group Arena, apparently. There was no AI's in this building that I'd seen so far, just neat directions printed on wall posters, almost like a hospital. There was a large foyer, with a sign that said, "Waiting Room," which just made the hospital feel a bit more… _there_ , and all the deep blue carpets and furniture accents made the room feel like it'd sunk into the water. It almost made me feel a bit like I'd walked into Bioshock, but of course, it wasn't quite so Art Deco. It was obviously meant to look like the building we'd walked into originally, where the pods were housed. Another thing that made me think of this place was a hospital was a complete silence. I don't know if there's an option to play music or anything, but damn. This is a horror film waiting to happen.

I had a quick wander around since the others were obviously taking their time. From Personally, I wanted to just meet back up with them and then all go out as a group. I'm a quiet person, really quiet, but I look at those AIs and I think I'm seeing a rendition of I, Robot.

So, anyway. We have the lobby, or "waiting room," if you want to get fancy. There were two doors leading out of the lobby and into two corridors, with doors that lead into Duel Rooms with themes based on fields (like Pegasus had in the Duelist Kingdom), and then rooms based on famous monsters. The Harpie Ladies one was pretty sharp, with holograms of the ladies crouched on podiums like the monstrous birds they were, looking down at me the moment I entered.

They were more real than the other AI's in my opinion. They were just monsters, as they always had been, who didn't try to speak and build a relationship with you, and certainly didn't smile non-stop. I'd backed out of the room and left them to it. I bet that room would be Mai Valentine's sweetest dream, haha.

So, all in all, it was petty impressive. But then, when you went back, there was the other door. Now that one lead to the group PVP, aka, everything shoved into one room rather than just 1V1.

So, obviously, that was where we were gonna be hanging out, at least for a bit after everyone finally made it here. Well. I'd assume it was anyway.

I sat down on one of the sofas, leaning back and folding my arms. I hoped they weren't going to be too long. It was two minutes or so later when a loud, "ting!" echoed through the building, like when you go into a small shop that doesn't always have staff on, and I heard footsteps shuffling behind me. I turned around to see Boxer, the guy from before.

"Hey man," I greeted easily.

"Hey," he said, sitting down on the sofa opposite me, "anyone else here?"

"Nah, just you and me so far."

The conversation fizzled out for a while, both of us just sat in a comfortable silence. He cleared his throat once or twice, casting the odd direct gaze at me. When we'd first met outside, we'd made similarly awkward small talk. There was another ting, and Boxer straightened up, leaning slightly to see past me.

"Hello!" a female voice chimed. "Sorry, I'm a bit late."

The brunette smiled and sat beside me, crossing her legs. Manda, or Granny, if my memory was correct.

"Are we waiting for the others before we start dueling?" she asked, blinking up at Boxer inquisitively, turning her head to glance between us. I half opened my mouth to reply and then faltered and went quiet as Boxer responded.

"I'd assume so."

"Cool," she said, nodding her head.

"Did you make that yourself?" Boxer asked, nodding to her coat. I'd glanced at it earlier, but not realised the extent of work that had clearly gone into it. The red silk on the inside, the buttons stitched firmly, the subtle flair of the hips and collar.

"Ah, yeah," she said, flashing a quick grin, "though to be honest, it might've been cheaper to go up and make the designer make it for me."

Boxer chuckled, "stuff like that is never cheap, especially to make."

"I mean, it might've been cheaper to commission it, but I was on a mission to do it myself. I love making patterns."

I nodded, keeping along with the conversation.

"Just waiting for Rabbit then," she mused after a moment.

I nodded. Again. Did I mention I'm a man of little words?

"Well, even if she's bad, she should be here by now, unless she's just spent loads of time walking about," Boxer said.

"True," Manda shrugged, "so she's probably just having a look about."

She got to her feet and started prowling around, picking things up and setting them back down, humming occasionally, clicking her tongue.

Finally, the door tinged and Rabbit appeared, a drink in hand, quietly shutting the door behind her. On noticing the gazes on her, her cheeks reddened slightly and she gave a tight smile.

"Ah, hi," she said.

The three of us chimed in with a round of, "hello."

"Sorry I took so long," she said, "I was just looking at the shops and that, and… well."

She gave a little shrug.

"What drink did you get?" Manda said. She probably didn't even care, from what I could see. She just wanted to duel. She was practically wired up for it like she'd stuck eighteen different coffees into a blender and chugged the whole thing.

"It's just flavoured water," Rabbit replied, fidgeting with the bottle. She gestured towards the PVP Group door.

"Shall we?"

"Yes!" Manda all but shouted, already speeding towards the door. I got up slowly, following the crowd. Rabbit seemed to lag back a bit. I guess that we've been lumped together as the quiet ones. Or at least, for now. After all, once you get to know people, they tend to get a bit louder. I was betting Rabbit was gonna be one of those people.

"Hey," I said, "Do you wanna duel, Rabbit?"

She seemed relieved to have an invitation of a kind, "sure. I have to warn you though, I'm really bad."

I nodded, "it's okay."

Manda twisted around to join in, "yeah, I'm not really good either."

"Guys, shall we choose a room?" Boxer said, cutting in neatly.

There was a pause while everyone glanced over the room titles.

"Kaiba!" Manda called out, pressing herself against the door. "Guys. Guys, please. The Kaiba room is all I need in my life right now."

Rabbit smiled, pushing her glasses up her nose, "I'm good with that."

"Yep, same," Boxer said.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I agreed. I wasn't exactly bothered either way. It's about the dueling, even if the surrounding might be pretty neat. Manda cracked open the Kaiba themed room and gave a delighted shiver before she shoved the door open and went in. She immediately draped herself across a couch, picking up a body-pillow of Kaiba and crushing it close.

"Excuse me and my waifu," she sighed, snuggling into it.

I couldn't hold back my grin at that point. This room was pretty damn big and covered from head to boot with KaibaLand Merchandise, with life-size Kaiba's printed onto the walls. There were large tables and chairs at each end of the room, and then there was the card-zone printed on the ground. I could even see a little tiny Blue Eyes, like a chick, asleep on top of one of the tables. I'm surprised that Manda hasn't noticed her yet.

"Who's going first?" Boxer asked.

Manda, coiled around the Kaiba body-pillow, peeked up. "I wanna watch someone else first," she said.

Rabbit nodded in agreement and went to sit down beside her.

"Not in the mood for sharing Kaiba?" She teased, sitting on the edge of the sofa, hunched over, a wry smile on her lips.

I turned to face Boxer.

"Well, I guess it's us," I said.

He nodded, "yep."

Right.

"It's time to duel," Boxer said, striding to the opposite side of the card-zone.

A coin flipped in the middle of our card-zone, revealing that I was the first turn.

I stood at the edge of my zone, watching my starting hand dispatch before me. Sacred Phoenix of Nepththys, Elemental HERO Heat, Anti-Magic Prism, and Hand of Nepththys.

I winced. This wasn't exactly a great hand to start out with.

"I play Elemental HERO Heat in attack mode," I said, rather lamely.

He summoned Niashi, pairing it with Legendary Ebon Steed, placing a card in the spell/trap zone. He annihilated my Elemental HERO Heat easily, and then smashed straight into my LP, leaving me at 3400.

I hissed, wincing, and then continued with my turn, "I summon Hand of Nepththys, and set Riryoku, activating its effect."

I could already tell this duel was going pretty downhill. I attacked his Samurai.

"Not so fast! I activate Schien's Scheme, which allows me to special summon two Six-Samurai monsters from my hand and onto the field. I summon Yariza and Nisashi!"  
He paused for a moment, "Nisashi, attack his hand of Nephthys!"

The creature exploded, whittling my Life-points down.

"Oh, but I'm not done," Boxer said, "Nisashi, attack his Life-points directly!"

"Well," Manda said, "that was short lived."

"That was only, what, three turns? _Damn_ ," Rabbit mumbled.

I winced, "it was a bad starting hand, yeah."

Boxer shrugged, "I mean… well, it was a good trap, anyway."

"Who are you going to pick next, anyway?" I asked, glancing towards the two girls. Both of them looked back, pulling dismayed expressions.

"Really not that good at this game," Rabbit said apologetically.

Boxer smiled, and looked her dead in the eye, "I'll have a rabbit to go, please."

I swear she paled slightly.

"Relax, Rabbit," I said, sitting between the two females.

"Relax," she repeated, brow arching, "yeah, I'll just… do that."

She stood up, looking like a lamb ready to go to slaughter, tugging at her over-sized sweater. I glanced at Manda, whose eyes were already fixed on Boxer and Rabbit as they took their places.

"I'm still really bad," she mumbled.

I almost felt sorry for her. That kid was gonna get absolutely smashed.

I wriggled about to get comfortable, leaning back. There was a clicking noise and we all turned. Underneath one of the empty tables, the little Blue-Eyes chick I'd noticed earlier was crawling along the floor, its beady eyes fixed on the duel.

"Someone has a Blue-Eyes in their deck," Boxer joked.

Rabbit smiled at the little creature. It stopped next to my foot and coiled up like a weird, ungainly pastry of sorts. Manda gaped at it, slowly pushing Kaiba aside to lean down and stroke her hand along its spine. It hissed slightly, snapping its teeth at her.

"Okay," Manda said, pulling her hand back. "You're still a cute little Blue-Eyes though."

I moved my foot away from the little thing. Things still hurt in this world, and I wasn't risking extreme pain to my ankle for that little thing.

"Awww," Manda cooed, "so cute, so cute, so cute."

Rabbit started as if to come over and gaze at the Blue-Eyes herself.

"Okay, well, ignore the little Blue-Eyes. Rabbit, come on, it's time to duel," Boxer interjected, making her stop abruptly.

She sighed, "Fine."

She looked at Boxer, straightening up and cracking her neck. She looked as though she was physically ready to deck him, even if she couldn't defeat him with her cards.

Together, the two of them chorused, "it's time to duel," and their starting hands flickered in front of each other. I was surprised to see that I couldn't actually see Rabbit's cards. Where the front of them would be, was the simple swirling logo. So the viewers couldn't help the other opponents cheat, I guess.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. Please R &R. :)**


	4. Rabbit 1

**While the duels displayed in all of these chapters are displayed as accurately as possible, it's definitely possible I make the occasional mistake or mix up the turns. For that, I do apologise.**

 **Other than that, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Links, the Tristan Taylor Discord people I have borrowed, and any possible references within. Thank you for reading, please review.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Rabbit**

It's no secret. I suck at Duel Links. Like, really, really suck. I'm probably average when you think about it, but I'm on the south end up average, and Boxer seems pretty effective. It takes me roughly five turns to end someone. It takes him three, or so it would seem.

I have three decks; a machine deck, a Blue-Eyes dragon deck (as ineffective as it is considering I only have a few of the key cards that make it go boom), and an ever-evolving deck that usually involves spellcasters I use when there's a key objective I need to get in Duel Links. My main characters are Bakura, Marik, and, of course, Kaiba.

I drew Restructor Revolution, Numinous Healer, Draining Shield, and Lightning Sword for my first hand. I swallowed thickly. Traps and Spells. None of these would give me an immediate upper hand. I placed Draining Shield and Numinous Healer before activating Restructor Revolution (which deducts 200 Life-Points for each card in his hand.) For the four cards in his hand, that knocked 800 LP. Not bad.

"I draw The Six-Samurai Irou, and activate the Legendary Ebon steed, giving it an extra 200 points of attack."

I activated Draining Shield, recovering 2,100 LP, giving me a total of 6,100.

"My turn," I said. I set down the Lightning Sword and Cloning.

"My turn is over…"

"Good. I summon Six-Samurai Kamon-"

"and here's my face-down card, cloning, in defence position," I said hastily.

He paused and looked at me, his brow slightly raised.

"Which I'm going to attack now, with Kamon, and then attack you directly."

I stumbled slightly and straightened up. I felt so nervous, so sick.

"Ah ah," I rasped, "I activate numerous healer, which gives me back 1000 Life-Points!"

"I end my turn," he shrugged. No skin off my back, I took him to mean. I drew and placed Wall of Disruption, and ended my turn. He drew and summoned another Six-Samurai Irou, placing him in attack position.

"Kamon! Attack her directly!"

I allowed him to, passing off the damage, and then sprung my trap as he went to attack me with Irou.

"I activate Wall of Disruption!"

His face was absolutely priceless, tightened and pinched with irritation. I think I faintly heard his jaw creak as he hissed. All three of his monsters rendered now at 0 attack points.

"I end my turn," he all but spat. I drew and placed Radiant Mirror Force, gesturing from him to go on. With a tight expression, he placed a card in the spell/trap zone. He really was not a happy bunny.

"I draw Dark Blade, the Captain of the Evil World," I declared.

"I activate Jar of Greed."

At this point, I figured he couldn't really do anything too bad. His monster slots were taken up, so all he could really do was play a trap or spell. Judging from his facial expression, he hadn't drawn anything worth placing.

I nodded, and then continued, "I now activate Lightning Blade, attaching it to my Captain. He gains 800 attack points, brings him up to 2800. I attack Irou!"

The attack went straight through, smacking into his life-points. He only had 400 left now.

"I end my turn."

He placed a card in the spell/trap zone, and then placed all three of his monsters into defence mode.

"My monsters effect activates," he snapped.

My Lightning sword disappeared in a flash.

"My turn," I said, drawing. Coffin Seller. I placed it.

"Captain, attack his middle Irou!"

"Hold it, I activate my face down card, Swift Strike Armour! This allows me to special summon a Six Samurai monster," he placed it in defence mode and continued, "I also activate Kamon's effect and get rid of your Coffin Seller."

I hissed and set Dark Dragon Ritual. Please don't make a bloody comeback at this point. He drew and set a card.

"My turn." I drew Kaibaman. Inhaling, I glanced over at the Blue-Eyes from the corner of my eye.

He set spell/trap during his turn.

"I set Bowganian in attack mode," I said, lips pursing. Bowganian had a nifty little effect I very much enjoyed. With his low LP count, I was hopeful that it might finish him off.

"Captain, attack his Kamon," I ordered, "Bowganian, attack his middle facedown!"

The card flipped, revealing Schien's Foot-soldier, which promptly exploded.

"Wait- Schien's Foot-Solider's effect activates. I can now summon a level three or lower Six-Samurai card!"

He special summoned Hand of the Six Samurai. Nisashi was next, along with a spell/trap-card. His Hand of the Six Samurai activated, destroying itself and my Captain. His Nisashi attacked my Bowganian, leaving me with no monsters on the field.

"Well now it's my turn," I said, smiling as I drew a card, "I put Kaibaman on the field in attack position and activate his special effect, allowing me to summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand!"

The beast reared up, spreading its wings, opening its mouth wide to reveal it's sharp teeth.

"Blue-Eyes, attack his Nisashi!"

The dragon drew itself up to comply.

"Hold it! I activate A Hero Emerges and bring out Six-Samurai Yariza in face-up defence mode!"

"Still attack him!" I shouted up at the Blue-Eyes.

"I activate Metalmor-"

"I don't care, still attack him!"

Boom! He shouted in alarm and reeled back under the force of my Blue-Eye's attack, his LP reeling down to 0. Out of breath and panting slightly, I pushed my glasses up and gave him a lopsided grin.

"What the hell is that deck! Why the hell is it like that, it's so annoying!"

He looked so frustrated like he honestly might cry.

"I guess it's like that to be annoying," I said, rolling my shoulders.

He spluttered, "re-duel me! Now!"

"No, no, I'm good," I said hastily, holding up my hands as though in surrender. I turned to grin at Dom, "I have avenged you, good sir."

He smiled slightly.

I scampered back to the sofa and squeezed myself down between Cube and Manda. The little dragon glared up at me and shuffled underneath the sofa, out of sight.

"Better hope he doesn't go for your ankles," I said to Cube, stretching out.

"You won the duel, shouldn't you be preparing for your next conquest?" Manda teased. I wonder if she realised she was running her hands over the Kaiba body-pillow's chest like she was going to find actual abs if she rubbed hard enough.

"Ah, you know how Joey sometimes managed to pull great duels out of his ass, but mostly doesn't really hit top tier? Apparently, that's me today," I joked. I reached out and ran my hand over the pillow teasingly, heaving a low sigh, "Still …that's enough fangirling for now."

"Rabbit, you are wrong. There is never enough fangirling," Manda said, pressing her cheek into the pillow.

"If that was a rabbit, it'd be dead," I muttered. "Like that Sarah Millican, when she gets a hold of tiny cute animals and strokes them too hard."

Manda snorted in response.

"Manda, do you wanna duel someone? I mean… you haven't dueled anyone here yet."

She pulled a face and shrugged.

A good five minutes later and Manda was standing opposite Cube, easing into a duel. I was sat, the dragon coiled around its leg. Why it had taken such a liking to Cube, I don't know, but the more I watched it, the more it seemed to actively tighten itself. Cube was railing himself against Manda, going on the offense, when it snapped, body whipping round, teeth sinking into his leg. He let out a shout, kicking his leg out, reaching to claw the monster away from him. Like a heavyset dog, it clenched its teeth tighter, blood trickling down its pale blue mouth.

I sprang to my feet, legging it to get to the creature, Manda already moving. I grabbed at its jaws, sinking my fingers between the hinges and forcing it apart.

"Help me with this!" I shouted. Between the three of us, we'd managed to get it off him. It hissed violently and scampered away sharply.

"Out of this room now," Boxer all but ordered.

"No argument there," Manda blurted, and the four of us scrambled to the door, Manda and Boxer supporting Cube's leg. We spilled out of the room and slammed the door behind us.

"What the hell," Cube panted.

"Well, we've already got one complaint to make then," Manda said breathlessly.

"Oh yeah," Boxer agreed. He leaned down, looking at Cube's legs. "It's not too deep, it's just bleeding a bit."

I leaned against the wall, watching them, concern bubbling up. My hands were trembling with adrenaline, my breath coming in short bursts. What the hell was that? Jesus bloody Christ _._ What the actual hell was that?

"A-are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Look, let's get through to the main room," Boxer said, "I don't quite trust these little monsters anymore, and if there's one in every room then…"

I nodded.

"The chances are it won't happen again," Manda said slowly, "but… it is concerning."

"Maybe we should report it to the AIs or something, maybe they can file a direct complaint," I said, my voice shaking. I could feel the urge to ramble building up, the need to have people listening and talking to me, to calm my ragged nerves.

"I don't know if all the AIs have that ability," Boxer said, "I'm pretty sure it's just the Tour Guide."

"Right, well, I'm pretty sure we can just call her once we're outside of the PVP Arena," Manda said, tucking her hair back. The red was dark enough in this light to look like dried blood.

"Cube, maybe you should stay sat down in the waiting room, though," she said, her tone slightly apologetic, "I mean, we don't get to let ourselves out, the time slot is absolute. There's no point in damaging your leg even more."

"It's just a deep couple of scratches," Boxer pointed out, "I don't really feel too comfortable leaving him there alone."

"Ah, I can wait with him," I interjected, "But I don't think we should wait outside of the door with the tiny angry dragon inside. It's a bit like sticking your leg into a garden with a dog who doesn't like strangers."

Dom agreed and I slipped my shoulder under his arm, beginning to lead him away.

"You guys go ahead and tell the Tour Guide or whatever she's called," I said, "we'll go sit down, have a look at this leg some more."

"Well, there's still nothing more you can do," Boxer shrugged. Manda and he brushed ahead of us, quickly heading through the door and out of sight.

"Well they ran off pretty fast," I said, "do you reckon we smell?"

He chuckled softly and I smiled, humming under my breath as he limped alongside me.

"Well after that it can only get better," I said, attempting to force a little brightness into my voice. He grunted, and I swallowed back an oncoming bout of babbling. We got to the Waiting Room and got ourselves seated.

"Do you think this is like Resident Evil?" I said, curling up on the sofa, and spreading my hands dramatically, "Woah, this hall is dangerous!"

Oh, Jesus. Can I get any more annoying? I swear I just get worse as the time goes on. I inhaled deeply. I hope those two don't take too long.

"I'm pretty sure my leg is okay," Cube said finally, "I mean, it hurts a bit, but it's not too bad."

He stood and tested his weight, wincing.

"Yeah, not too bad."

I'm pretty sure he just really wants to escape from me at this point. I huddled up inside my sweater, nails digging into its woolen material.

"We could go find them, if you wanted to," I said awkwardly.

He frowned. "We'll give it a bit more time, and then we'll go out looking."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading, please R &R. 3 **


	5. Manda 2

**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Links, the characters within, etc. May contain slight aspects of OOC.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Manda**

I was a little shaken, I'll admit, but I was trying hard to push it out my mind and think logically, to try sort this mess out. We stepped outside the Arena and called for the Tour Guide for help. No one appeared.

"Maybe we should try the portal," I said, frowning.

"Better than nothing," was all Boxer said.

A crude wind was beginning to moan through the streets, whispering down the back of my neck and raising the hair on the back of my neck. I shivered and drew my coat close, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Is it me, or is the sky getting darker?" I said, noticing the shadows of the buildings stretching out. I glanced up, checking to see if it was just cloudy. "I didn't realise it had a kind of night mode."

"Yeah… well, apparently it does, so. We'd probably better hurry up."

"Why? Are you worried my sexy knight in blue armour might appear?"

His lips broke into a smile, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest.

"I can't say I am."

"Well, you should be."

"Not after tag-teaming with his AI I'm not."

Hurrying alongside his stride, my poor little legs straining to keep up, I gave a loud exaggerated moan of distress.

"Boxer, could you slow down a little?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah."

We followed the pathway down from the Arena, straight down to little shopping center and a couple of empty homes, and towards the fountain. It was a good ten-minute walk, and despite getting Boxer to slow down, I was huffing slightly under my breath, because slowing down to him was just turning his quick pace into a long, leisurely stride that still managed to put me way behind him.

"Where do you think the AIs are?" I said, taking a long measured look around us.

"I don't know, Manda."

A strong breeze rippled against us, billowing out my coat. I may have given the ends a little flick to help it do so, but that's not the point. The point is, I, a twenty-something woman, am probably a lot younger in my head than I am in my body, and that's probably not a bad thing.

"Ah… Tour Guide Person? Duel School Lady," I said loudly, "we would really like some help about now."

Patiently, I waited, glancing around and pursing my lips. "No? Nope? Okay."

"Something must've gone wrong," Boxer mused. "I mean, she's the Help Desk, basically, and she's gone."

"Well, what the hell do we do then?" I sighed, beginning to pace, "I mean, she's supposed to be the one that takes us out of the game when we're done, isn't she? Doesn't that mean we're stuck here until they fix her?"

Concern flashed across Boxer's face, "well, there should be more than one method to get help, in a place like this..."

Fear settled low in my stomach and I bit my lip, "but Kaiba made this. Kaiba, who thinks he can do no wrong."

Boxer fell silent for a long minute before he finally spoke again, "let's just get back to the others. If we have to stay here, we have to at least move away from there, find somewhere without snappy little monsters."

I nodded, "for all we know it was just an unhappy fluke," I said, though my nerves screamed otherwise. I just had such a bad feeling now.

"Well, we can hope so," Boxer said grimly.

The two of us started to walk back. On the way, I started to notice the AIs returning out of the corner of my eye.

"Maybe they had to reboot the system or something," I said, nodding towards them.

"I don't like this," Boxer muttered, "have you noticed their smiles are gone?"

We could see the three of them stood together, watching us from beside the drinks stall. The lady from before, who offered drinks, was still there, a bottle held loosely in her hand. Her eyes were disturbingly wide open, and her image was shivering, as though it was about to glitch out.

"But their eyes still look ridiculously happy," I whispered, "like, they're positively gleaming. This is getting creepy as hell."

I nearly froze when I noticed a Kaiba AI appear. Not necessarily because it was Kaiba, but because he was different to the other AIs. All of the Legendary Duelists were like complete personalities, while the AI common duelists were just vaguely there with a few key traits. If they had stopped smiling, I don't even want to know what had been shoved up Kaiba's arse. He turned to face us, his dark eyes shimmering with rage, lips twisting into a smirk.

"Oh look, more fourth rate duelists," he sneered, stalking towards us.

I craned my neck up to look back at him. He's so damn tall he makes me feel like a gnome.

"We don't have time for you," Boxer said sharply.

Kaiba's lips peeled back to reveal perfect white teeth. His lips looked so soft, even when they were twisted in that terrible snarl. _Oh.._. stop! Stop daydreaming. I inwardly shook myself.

"I-we... we gotta go," I said, edging my way around him. His eyes followed me frostily. Damn, talk about a cold shoulder. I wanted to shiver, drop at his feet and just die a little inside.

"No, I don't think you do," his voice dropped, roughening. "I don't know if you've noticed my little friends back there, but I don't think they plan on letting you run away quite so easily."

"Friends?" I repeated.

"Oh, he's got friends alright," Boxer said heavily, "remember those AIs we saw on the way here? Yeah, they seem to be making quite a crowd."

I swallowed, turning my head. Oh yes... this was definitely a horror film in progress at this point.

"So, Boxer..." I said quietly, "got any kind of plan going on up there?"

"We can duel them, I suppose, but I get the feeling they'll be back the second we turn away. As for Kaiba-boy here-"

The noise Kaiba made at the sound of his little nickname made me want to laugh. It was something between a hiss and a snort like someone had just jammed something somewhere very uncomfortable.

"Boxer, can you try not to antagonise the nice duelist please?"

"Nice!" A loud obnoxious laugh escaped Kaiba, "you obviously don't know me very well."

"Sweetheart, you obviously don't understand sarcasm very well," I chimed in. Oh damn. My mouth had run a mile while I'd kept it unzipped.

"Who's antagonising the nice duelist now?" Boxer muttered. I whacked his arm lightly without thinking.

"Shut up and duel me," Kaiba cut in, "or are you too afraid?"

I met Boxer's eyes, chewing my lip and giving a little shrug.

"It doesn't really bother me," I said, leaning into him to mumble, "but I think it would be better to just get to the others before we start anything right now."

"It's just a duel," Boxer muttered back.

"I mean, technically it is, but it's also a waste of time while Rabbit and Cube might be getting attacked for all we know."

"If we run, we'll have this lot chasing us... and I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly the type to go for a run."

"Well, I know, I'm not exactly either but-"

There was a soft warmth clouding down the back of my neck. I shivered and pressed a hand against it, for a moment not even recognising what it meant. And then it came again, hotter, stronger, and I could hear the slight inhale and exhale right behind my ear. My mouth opened and a "eugh," escaped me before I could even hope to stop it.

"Jesus titty christ, can you not," I spluttered, whirling around and backing away. The AI was Hailey, a tall female with her hair tied to one side and large hazel eyes.

Her hands moved in a flash, grabbing for my shoulders. I let out a yelp and shoved her back, stumbling away from her. She landed on her back, panting.

"What the hell!"

"I want to hurt you," she said, her eyes wide and mouth wide open. She was breathing heavily.

"She's gone nuts," Boxer said, pulling me away from her, "I think all the basic AI have."

"What and Kaiba's just normal," I spluttered, as we both started to edge away. Kaiba waited for us to reach a certain distance and then smirked, striding along easily. His long legs meant that he basically up to our arses the moment he started. We hurried on slightly, while he just walked, smirking.

"Well, he is always basically... like this," Boxer pointed out.

"I don't think he is just normal. He wouldn't be so determined to duel us 'third rate duelists' if he was."

I paused and a small smile appeared on my face, "hey Boxer," I whispered, "I said you ought to be worried if my waifu appeared."

Boxer's lips twitched, "call him that to his face. Loudly. I dare you."

"Hey," I said under my breath, "maybe we should lose 'em in one of the houses, keep out of sight. Once they separate, we can get back to the Arena."

"Might be better if we split up altogether."

"Yeah..." I turned around and flashed a beaming smile at Kaiba, "hey, lover, so we gotta go... but I'll catch you later!"

With that, I kicked off into a loose sprint. Within three seconds, I was already regretting it. I managed to get a short bit away before I was nearly dying. I stooped down, glancing back. Kaiba hadn't followed me, not yet. Which meant he'd probably chased after Boxer. Or just, you know, took a few steps and caught up. I crept back and peeked around the corner. Boxer was there, alright, surrounded, with two AIs trying to claw at his skin. I let out a deep sigh, already feeling a deep ache in my bones. This was gonna be crappy as hell.

"Hey!" I shouted, bouncing into full view, "excuse me! Kaiboobs to the rescue!"

I flipped back my coat dramatically and spun around, letting the material flare.

"Reeeee," I shrieked, doing my best pterodactyl impression. Three AIs and Kaiba turned to look at me. I stopped spinning, feeling dizzy. The AIs tensed up, getting ready to run, but Kaiba seemed to be ignoring me in place of Boxer.

"Hey Kaiba," I panted, leaning against the nearest wall. "Your deck is totally weak as balls."

That did it. If there was one thing Kaiba didn't like, it was the implication that he was weak, that his perfect little deck was crap. His head whipped back round to face me, his face pinched and teeth gritted.

"Come and get me, big... boy..." I taunted, or at least, I started to, because Kaiba started actually running towards me.

"Hell, nope!" I turned the other way and legged it. I'd given Boxer as much as I could. I now had four angry AIs chasing me, and I'd just spent the last minute telling Seto Kaiba that he pretty much sucks balls.

Which was funny and everything, but unfortunately, I am not great at running. I sprinted as fast as I could, heart pounding in my chest, and then someone caught up and crashed into me, pushing me against the wall.

"Now," Seto Kaiba growled, batting away the other AIs impatiently, "I'm going to teach you a lesson about respect."

"Uh... Uh-huh" I said, staring at his chest, which was pretty much where I ended in terms of height, and working my eyes down the lines of his close-fit t-shirt, cheeks burning hot.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please R &R.**


	6. Cube 2

**The usual disclaimer applies. It may be noted that this story is a bit, "crack," humour-ish. That's just a side effect of the kind of discord group we are. We like our humour but we're also stern in our own little ways, a little defensive here and there, just like everyone else. If you read about us, and decide we sound like a good bunch, please feel free to PM me for the discord link or find us on facebook under the Tristan Taylor page.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **Dom**

We thought we'd be okay here like the closed doors would be a barrier stopping the monsters from getting out and coming to find a fleshy chew toy. But we weren't as safe as we thought we'd be, considering something had tried to get in. Don't get me wrong, it might've been the dragon again, though neither of us saw it. There was just two of us in here; the moment something tried to get through from the PVP group door, that was it. Between the two of us, I managed to keep the door shut while Rabbit heaved one of the sofas over, grunting as she pushed it, the brunt of the weight on her shoulder. A quick struggle and we managed to prop it against it, the heavy-weight keeping the door shut for now.

She huffed, rubbing her shoulder, and leaned against the wall, her eyes trained on the other door, leading the 1v1 PVP rooms.

"We should shove something against that one next," she said. She stripped off her heavy jumper and tied it around her waist, revealing a smoky grey vest top and a gold chair threaded around her throat.

I nodded and helped her shove the other one.

"The only other thing," she said, "we can use to barricade is the table."

I nodded. The only other door was the main entrance door, however, I doubted she meant we block it. Just give an example should one of the sofas fall.

"Thing is," she continued, watching the door rattle beneath the sofa, "I'm guessing that's a baby dragon because it's awful small and not really as vicious as the Blue Eyes had been, and where there's baby dragon..."

"There might be a time wizard," I finished.

"And then there might be a Thousand Year Dragon," she said grimly, "Don't get me wrong, it's a chance on a chance, but you never know."

There was a sound cracking noise and door buckled but didn't give.

I inhaled sharply.

"That's going to come off its hinges," Rabbit whispered, taking a step back.

I nodded and gestured to the front door, "I think we should go."

The two of us had barely started when the door was slammed into again, this time it's top hinge cracking away from the door. After a split second, three direct hits in a row sounded, almost like knocking and the door splintered, cracking in half.

"Shit," Rabbit hissed.

I grabbed her arm and tugged her sharply towards the door, but she was still watching, eyes wide. An inhuman shriek split the air and three Harpy Ladies swooped in, arms outstretched, claws spread, ready to attack. I yanked her down as one spiraled down at us, claws slicing, and barely missed me. Rabbit cried out, her head spinning from the hit, a slash opening from her jawline to her cheek. Scarlet flowed after a second, as though her body just remembered to blood, but it was sluggish, thick.

She scrambled, struggling to avoid its next attack. The Ladies had recognised she was weaker prey, and two were beginning to swoop down, a battle-cry escaping their lips. I ducked the thirds attack, jumping back away from her nasty talons and immediately racing forward to drag Rabbit out of their way. My fingers caught the fabric of her sweater rather than her intended waist, but it was tied tight enough to catch her and pull at her body.

Numb with shock, she allowed herself to be pulled, her legs trembling beneath her as she attempted to get herself moving alongside me. We barely got out of that door before they exploded from it behind us, careening up into the sky. One landed on a streetlight, her eyes shining with malice as she crowed, while the others streaked across the sky, gaining momentum.

"Murder of crows," Rabbit gasped under her breath, eyes darting, "we need to hide in one of the buildings, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you could, but that wouldn't solve anything now would it?" A rich British accent came from our side. I turned to face it abruptly.

"Not to worry, children... you don't need to worry about the birds. You need to worry about us."

"Us?" Rabbit repeated

"Us," a voice hissed. I twisted to my other side quickly. Marik.

"Oh, Christ, not now," Rabbit groaned. I noticed she was trembling and her eyes looked suspiciously watery. Marik let out a deep chuckle, his lips twisted into a delighted smirk.

"I'd be delighted to dish out some pain on you two," he purred.

"And I'd be delighted if you took off your shirt and flexed your muscles, but that's just not gonna happen," Rabbit said in a very reasonable tone, her voice faintly trembling. My lips twitched slightly.

Bakura gave a short cackle of amusement.

Rabbit flashed a cheeky grin, threw out her arm and shouted, "the power of fanservice compels you! The power of fanservice compels you!"

Then she bolted. As short and chubby as she was, she managed to get a good distance away from the surprise factor alone before she had Marik snarling and chasing after. He slammed into her, pushing her to the ground. She struggled beneath him, barely managing to flip herself belly up, before he had his Millenium rod unsheathed, the sharp point pressed against her belly.

He was panting with excitement now he had caught her. I couldn't see his face, but I got the feeling I didn't want to see what Rabbit was seeing. I could hear her harsh breathing from here. He was speaking to her, his voice a low dark drawl I couldn't quite hear, his head dipping to her shoulder, hair brushing her cheek. I could see her knee shifting underneath him, but even I could tell that she couldn't put enough force behind it to get him off her.

"Now, we could duel," Bakura crooned, circling me like a vulture, "or we could watch her murder if you'd rather. I know Marik would enjoy putting on a show."

I glanced back over to them. He was lightly scraping the sharp tip of his Millenium rid of her shoulder, drawing shapes on her skin. He leaned in suddenly, tongue flicking out to dance over her cheek, tasting her blood. She jerked back, grimacing.

"Jesus Christ, I didn't realise we were in Silence of the Lambs," she spat. A look of instant regret flashed over her face. She was stupidly hot-headed.

I hummed slightly, "I can duel you," I said simply, "but only if you mind getting your so-called friend off Rabbit."

"Rabbit," Marik chortled. His hand squeezed around her neck lightly before he released. "I always wanted to snap a rabbit's neck."

"Please do not," Rabbit muttered, scooting back and standing up. She leaned heavily against a building wall, watching me. I had little doubt that she wanted to bot again, but I could see in her eyes she knew she was backed into a corner. If she ran, this time she might actually get hurt.

"Well, I suppose I have to duel you now."

A loud shout echoed in the air around us.

"That sounded like Kaiba," I mused aloud.

"Aaaaaah!"

We all started towards the source of the noise, a white figure emerging from the distance, coat flaring out dramatically as they ran.

"Manda," Rabbit said, her mouth slightly agape.

"Rabbit! Never trust a man's abs! They mislead you," she cried, grabbing a hold of Rabbit. Rabbit, obviously stunned, just let herself be turned around to face the wrath of Seto Kaiba, a man who looked less than happy. My eyes dropped down, recognising the pained stoop in his posture.

"I kicked him in the balls," she stage-whispered, "and there's a dozen really pissed off AIs running around looking for the rest of us."

If the two Yamis weren't already smiling, they certainly were smirking now.

"So," Rabbit said, "you managed to kick him in the balls, we managed to get attacked by angry harpy ladies and then these two buggers, and then... well. Where's Boxer?"

"Somewhere safe hiding, let's hope," Manda muttered.

"Okay, well there's three of us and three of them," Rabbit said, resting her head on top of Manda's, "So if we split up, it'll have to be 1v1. So, it's either running again or a really big, nicely convenient distraction. I, personally, learned running doesn't cut it for me."

Manda nodded in agreement, "yeah, I'd really rather not."

Rabbit leaned down and whispered something into her ear. I crept a little closer, hoping to listen in on their conversation, but it was too late. Rabbit was already quiet. She gave me a quick look, eyes flicking to Manda, signaling she wanted me to talk to her in private asap. Rabbit slipped closer to Marik, her eyes fixed upon him. He looked back at her, barely concealing his amusement.

"Duel me," she all but whispered, "duel me, then leave them alone."

"You'd make a good example," he said, "of what happens to those who oppose me."

She took another step forward, her eyes fixed on him, her eye contact keeping him distracted. Manda was walking around him, her pace even and slow, almost a dazed little walkabout, coming closer to his back. Kaiba was all but growling at her movement, his eyes practically burning holes into her. Why he hadn't attacked her yet was beyond me, but I could see it was coming.

"One thing about me," Manda mused to me, turning back to gaze at me. Marik's eyes flicked but for a moment and then fixed back on Rabbit's.

"Is that I have really strong legs. Let's call it my superpower."

I frowned. Bakura frowned. Marik was oblivious right until it hit him, a powerful kick straight into his ribs, and then a joining punch that sank into his kidneys. He wheezed, hand loosening around his Rod, and Rabbit snatched it from him, smacking him around the head with it before she started to run, shouting, "go!"

I gave chase, along with Manda. We left Bakura standing there, looking bored and irritated, with Marik on the ground. Kaiba stood there, scowling at us in the background, watching us run. I got an awful feeling he knew something we didn't.

"I'll duel you next time," Rabbit called back, her cheeks turning a hazy red as she puffed and ran.

"We need to find Boxer," Manda panted. We slid into a dark back alley, the three of us groaning.

"I'm so tired," Rabbit mumbled, rubbing her eyes with a hand.

"We don't have time to be tired right now," Manda said, patting the other girl's shoulder lightly.

"I know," Rabbit hummed. She untied her sweater and slipped it back on.

"It's thick," she explained, unnecessarily, "might make it harder to slide a bloody pointy thing into my belly."

I didn't mention how easy it would be for him to pin her down and rip up that thick sweater if it did get in the way, and how much he might actually enjoy the small challenges she was presenting him with. At this point, I didn't have the heart to tell her. She was already badly shaken, though she was trying to so hard to mask it with an exuberant facade. Of all of us so far, she was probably the weakest one. She'd chosen her name well, I guess. Rabbit. A little fast animal with little claws and teeth not good for attacking with, let alone defend herself with, and she seemed to know it.

She sniffed, tightened her reddish ponytail and tried to hide the shaking in her hands by shoving them into her jean pockets.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this latest chapter. Please R &R. :) **


	7. Kaiba 1

**The usual disclaimer applies, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Links, Discord, etc.**

 **This is the first time I've written from Kaiba's POV, not just in this story, but ever, so I hope it works out alright.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7.**

 **Kaiba, IRL.**

Sat at my desk, legs crossed and arms folded, I observed my laptop with a pucker of irritation between my brows. Some people really were stupid, I thought, leaning forward to close the lid. I shrugged into my coat, pushing back a sigh of irritation. Though I tried not to show it, a life behind a computer screen running a business was backbreaking, a real strain not just upon my muscles but on my mind. Of course, it was enjoyable at times. There is nothing more satisfying than crushing your enemy. Business, like Duel Monsters, is a game.

I smirked. If you hope to make a deal with Seto Kaiba, you'd best bring your A-game, and apparently, this business had forgone formality and tried to cozy up to me like I was their oldest friend. I snorted under his breath, striding from my office. My pace stalled as I picked up a hushed argument down the near my personal receptionist's desk. Two security guards were huddled in the corner, strained words flashing between them.

They were from my theme park, I realised, eyes narrowing. The two that had gone to help publically trial the new Duel Links. What were they doing here?

"We can't tell him, he'll just fire us," one hissed.

"Well, we can't just leave them in there, they could get... I don't know, brain damage or something!"

My ears all but burned with curiosity, and I stopped to listen. They were too immersed in spitting at each other they didn't even register that I had arrived.

"It's just a hacker, I.T can handle it."

A jolt of shock passed through me. A hacker?!

"Explain," I snarled, surging forward. To their credit, the two didn't bolt, but they did cower. Good.

"Explain what is going on _now."_

One of them spluttered while the brunette, the one who was against telling me, straightened up, squaring his shoulders defensively before he complied, "After we sent Group B into the system, we went to wake Group A. But the system had locked us out completely, we can't wake them."

My mouth tightened, lips pressing harshly together, "What makes you think it's a hacker and not a system malfunction?"

"We ran system diagnostics," The blonde said quietly, "the system is going haywire, and there's an unidentified malware in it."

"So not only has someone got into it, but someone has... what, changed it?"

"Yes, sir. We don't know what happened, how anyone got in," he said, voice picking up speed as his panic rose, "we've been trying to wake them, we even tried opening a pod, but nothing happened."

"Idiots," I spat, "where's Mokuba? Did you even tell I.T yet?"

"No, sir... we thought you'd want-"

"I want the situation handled is what I want. You go to I.T, you go to Mokuba, and then you go to me, understand?"

The blonde nodded shakily, "sorry, sir."

"Call Mokuba to my office, now. Tell him it's a hacker emergency."

I waved them off, casting a sneer at their backs. I went back into my office to wait for Mokuba, becoming more impatient by the moment. Mokuba burst through the door, a high tech laptop gripped tightly under his arm. While I myself had a high tech laptop it was built for business and gaming, whereas Mokuba's was more direct, and he was more familiar with the system's code. He might be able to pick out exactly where the hacker got in, not to mention root out the bastard.

"Our Duel Links has been hacked."

Mokuba gave me a startled look, his large doe eyes blinking in shock, "you're kidding. That has some of the best protection. It even has military-grade protection!"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" I ground, teeth clenching together.

"Obviously not," Mokuba said, setting up his laptop. He connected to the Duel Links System and started roaming, "tell me more about the situation. What is this hacker affecting that we know of?"

"Our public trials won't wake up anymore. That's the gist of what I know."

"Right, so they're basically in stasis." Mokuba frowned, his hands pressing into his temples, pushing back his thick black hair, "We've got a problem, Seto."

"Oh, another one," I snarked, "do enlighten me, Mokuba."

"This isn't just someone hacking and doing a few little changes to cheat the game or whatever. This is an actual virus, some harsh malware. I get the nasty feeling it's latched onto the nanobots in our trials brains, which means they have the potential to twist them, damage their brains or worse."

I scowled, "I knew those nanobots were a bad idea."

"And yet, they were the best choice at the time," Mokuba sighed.

Ignoring his answer, I sat in my chair, crossing my legs and grimacing,"Find anything?"

"Nothing more than what you know," he mumbled, "this stuff takes some time you know."

He frowned, "the Tour Lady has been deleted. We can't get them out through her anymore, which means we need to work in another way out."

"So what do you suggest?" I interjected, "That our primary priority is getting them out, and then closing off the Duel Links until we work out the virus."

Mokuba nodded grimly, "there's not exactly a better option."

"We need a plan," I stated, "we have the objective, but we need a plan."

"I think... I might be able to hack our own system, boot up a new back door. I don't think I can do it through our system. I need to put in the exit like another virus, so they can't just edit it out and they get a nasty prize for trying."

"So, first, you need to design the virus to get through our walls. Then you need to create a new exit."

"Thing is, we'd need someone to physically go in and get the entire group together, so they all get out before anything happens."

I gave a low grunt, folding my arms. My brain was already lighting up, buzzing with the idea of going inside the Duel Links,

"-and no, big brother, if you're going, you aren't going alone."

I scowled, "you said one person was all that was necessary."

"Seto, if you go in alone, I'll send in Yugi after you, and I might even throw Joey in too. Go with Yugi and... I won't send the mutt along too."

If anything, my scowl only deepened at the mention of the mutt.

"Oh, but I'd love to grind that dog under my heel again," I growled, "but not while I'm busy with stuff that's actually important. Beating Wheeler isn't even worth my time, it's so easy there's no challenge at all."

"Then you'll go with Yugi," Mokuba insisted.

"I think you overestimate your control over me, Mokuba."

"Think it through, Seto. We don't know how bad it is in there," he hesitated, "and please try to get along with the people inside, big brother. They're probably scared, freaking out... the news alone that we got hacked is bad enough, especially if it gets into the media. We'll end up part of a frenzy."

I nodded grimly.

"Either way, get on with it Mokuba and update me. As soon as you have a backdoor, let me know, and I'll plug into the system."

"Don't forget," Mokuba warned, "Yugi is coming too."

I snorted and turned my back on him, staring at the window for a long moment. I could see my Dragons from here, wrapped around the building, their bodies amazingly textured. In the game, I knew they would be even more beautiful.

"If something should go wrong," Mokuba said, his words disjointed as he spoke between periodic bursts of typing, "then I don't know what I'd do, Seto... I don't think I could get you out."

I said nothing to this, continuing to gaze out the window. It isn't that I didn't want to return to my brother's side, talk and ease his fears, but I had nothing that would alleviate him really.

If I didn't go in and collect them and they didn't get out, we'd be due worse than what we are already expecting. If they died in there then I may as well have held a metaphorical gun at my head and let a bullet pass through. Mokuba would never forgive himself if he let them die and he couldn't save them; call me anything you want, but I will not allow my brother to be hurt through this.

"I messaged Yugi," Mokuba piped up, "he's on his way."

I groaned. There mere mention of the pipsqueak was like bile building in the back of my throat.

"There are several pods housed on floor thirteen if you want to go meet Yugi there. I can send you a message telling you where the exit will be and how to access it."

I nodded slowly, "get the tech group into work with you as well. It'd speed up the process if you were to share it between a group. Normally, I'd say you do this stuff well enough on your own, but... I think the techs might help."

"Yeah."

Silence filled the room.

"I need to get someone onto the press," I mused aloud, "I don't know if this has gotten out yet, but we need to minimise the damage where we can."

Mokuba hummed, the jagged sound of his keyboard crunching inside the spacious room.

"Go on brother," he sighed, turning to face me, "all I can feel is your eyes on me."

I scowled and moved on, striding out of the room. Soon enough, I was in the elevator sliding down floors. The doors opened with a soft noise and a female musical voice said, "please mind the doors, doors opening."

I made my way to the room. These pods were similar to those that we had been placed in during Noah's little kidnapping. This situation was almost similar, in a way. I rested a palm on the glass, looking inside one of the pods. The cushioning in there was comfortable, almost leathery in design so it could be cleaned efficiently.

Yugi should be here soon enough. At the very least, perhaps we might duel while we wait for the back-door access to be opened. No... I shook my head impatiently. Duelling could wait. There was a soft knock at the door behind me and Yugi cracked it open, peeking through the crack.

"Hurry up and come in Yugi," I growled. The small, lithe male came in, shutting the door quietly behind him. His short fluffy hair was its usual explosion, his mouth set into a smile.

"Hey there, Kaiba," he said easily. His happy tone faltered as he continued, "sorry to hear about all this."

I sneered, pulling myself up to my full height, "why this is any of your concern I don't know, Yugi, but for some reason Mokuba insisted you come along, and since he was just going to slip you in the moment I was under, I didn't really have a choice."

His face fell, eyelashes drooping and mouth pulling in. Stupid boy. I turned my attention back to the pod.

"Once we get in and close the lids, I've set a timer of nine seconds. I advice you get comfortable or your body won't thank you when we wake up."

Yugi sighed and turned his gaze back up to me, "so, we're just waiting for Mokuba now?"

I gave a sharp hum, not bothering to give him a direct answer.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Any reviews would be appreciated. :)**


	8. Garoga 1

**The usual disclaimers apply: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Links, or the characters portrayed, save for Rabbit. Please enjoy! Things are really starting to heat up.**

 ***occasionally chapters are edited, just to make them fit the persona of the Discordian better.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 **Garoga**

I wasn't expecting to be dumped in a dog pile of people, but lo and behold, here I am, in the middle of the pile, my curly hair falling over my face. I let out a low groan, back arcing with pain. I don't think we were supposed to all be dropped in the same place, and being that it was one after the other, there was no time to move out the way before we were landed on, shoved aside, and fallen into a heap of people.

I wriggled my way out of the heap and stood, backing away. I counted the people there and established everyone had arrived, though probably not as fashionably as they'd like.

"Hello again," I greeted, rubbing my arm. It was probably going to bruise. The cobblestone was not a particularly nice thing to land on.

"What the hell?" An Australian accent drawled. A slender man drew himself from the crowd with probably a little more dignity than I had done and stood. He was tall, pale, his eyes vaguely amused, with short hair close to his scalp, more like a light fuzz than anything a slightly stretched ear, and strong brows.

"I dunno," a muffled voice said, another body emerging and leaving the final one lying there. The final one propped himself up on his elbows and looked up lazily.

"Okay, so," I said, "we didn't exactly have a lot of time for introductions."

The Australian gave me a quick once-over. I winced. If another person mistakes me for a girl, I'm gonna be a little bit irked. I only recently had a problem with that, and let's say I'm dense enough that I didn't even realise that the woman was a) flirting with me and b) thought I was a woman. I mean, I'm a little chubby, but I didn't realise people would think I was… never mind.

"Eater of Boomerangs," he introduced.

"Eater," I repeated, my brow quirking slightly, "of Boomerangs… okay."

His teeth flashed and he gave a mischievous chuckle, "Either way, just plain Eater is fine."

The guy on the floor barked a short laugh.

I frowned, "why are you still on the floor?"

He shrugged and made a noncommittal noise.

"Anyway, I'm Garoga, or Gar, if you prefer," I continued. My face still felt hot.

"Bonz," the man-now-known-as-Bonz said, clambering to his feet.

"So," I recanted, "we have Bonz, Eater and…?"

I turned to look at the other male, taking in a long glance. He had dark skin, wiry-looking glasses, and deep brown eyes, with short, curly hair. He looked quite smart, in casual clothing. He looked at me and gave a little grin, "Right to Ruination. Ruin if you don't want a mouthful."

"I love a good mouthful," Eater chimed in.

There was a small bubble of laughter from the group.

"Right, so what's the plan?" Ruin asked, glancing around. "This place is really dark. I guess it's supposed to be night time."

A shrieking noise echoed through the air, making us all twist in confusion.

"What was that?" I wondered aloud.

There was another flash and a body crumpled to the ground, landing on top of Bonz, who grunted with pain, face scrunching up. A young man jumped up almost immediately, rolling his shoulders. He had extremely long hair the colour of dark honey and a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He was pale, with a little stubble around his chin.

"Hi," he said quickly, flashing a quick grin, "Kaiba sent me in to guide you all to a safe place until he and Yugi get here. You can call me Vermilingus or Verm. You're probably a bit confused by that though... err. Well, you see, there's a bit of an issue inside the system and you could be in, ah, potential danger. Well, there's nothing potential about it. Now, the exit hasn't been placed yet, and Mister Kaiba won't risk coming until it has been, I'm afraid. There was a similar issue a few years back, you see…"

We all wore similar faces of confusion.

I blinked, "I'm sorry? What? Of all of that, the only words I really was, 'Kaiba', and, 'Verm.'"

The air seemed to blow out Verm's sail as he tried to reconfigure what he was going to say.

"Okay, so. There's a problem with the system. I'm here to protect you from the system until-"

A sharp feminine howl of agony pierced through the air, punctuated with a different, loud sobbing noise from nearby. Whoever it was couldn't have been far. Without any kind of discussion, the five of us bolted towards the scream. Now, I'm not exactly the bravest person, but there was something in that scream that made us all race towards it. It was like hearing a child shriek after it falls off a swing, but worse. Whoever this is was in real pain. I could hear it in the scream.

"We shouldn't do this," Verm shouted, mid-run, "this is dangerous."

There was another scream, so loud now it sent goose bumps rippling down my arms. My hair bounced around my shoulders. My breath was ragged but still, we ran. We could see someone running down the street, white coat flaring behind them. Two people were racing along after her, shrieking.

She twisted down a back-alley and we heard a door slam.

We stumbled back, crouching into the shadows. A moment later the two chasers appeared, obviously confused. Another minute and they strode off, turning a corner. We went down the alleyway quietly, sneaking with bated breath.

"In there!" Bonz hissed from the front, bursting through the door of a homely building. He pointed at the door-handle, which gleamed in the moonlight, save for a bloody handprint. We raced up the stairs and through the only door. It shut behind us, revealing a girl covered in blood, a sharp gold rod in her hand. She was sobbing violently, as though she was in pain. She sounded wretched, but… I swallowed thickly. The blood wasn't hers. She backed away from the body, doubling over, her fists clenched with absolute rage. She looked like she wanted to punch the wall in.

"What happened?" Bonz said urgently.

She snarled, fiery hair falling over her face, her fingers clawing around the sharp rod, her words coming out in short bursts "we were… we were trying to get away from Marik and Bakura, and Rabbit, she dropped the rod so I grabbed it… I went for Marik but he shoved her in front of me," she heaved, exhaling shakily, forcing herself to unclench her fist "it went through her shoulder. She was bleeding so damn badly…"

"Where is she now?" Verm said, quickly pushing his way to her side. His hand grasped the slippery item slowly, his other hand splayed in an _I_ ' _m-not-going-to-hurt-you_ kind of way, fingers staining red, and he took it from her quickly.

"I don't know," she said, "I ran, there were too many of them, I couldn't…"

She shook her head, distressed, and raised her hands to cover her face, nails drawn as though she was going to scratch jagged lines down her face, her shoulders shaking.

"If you were being chased, then we need to move," I said, "'cos if we could hear you from the fountain, then they'll be coming."

She nodded, shoving her hair back with her hands. She looked manic.

"We need to find the others," she insisted.

"Where were you last grouped up?" Verm said. Like watching a tennis ball bounce between players, my eyes darted between the two of them, almost entranced.

"We were all hiding in one of the houses near the PVP Arena. There were three of us, we'd already lost Boxer… we were trying to hide since we'd managed to piss off Marik, Bakura, and Kaiba so badly. We got in, and then they, the Harpies, followed us." She glanced at Verm, explaining, "When Rabbit and Cube escaped the PVP Arena, all the monsters went batshit crazy. The Blue Eyes chick bit Cube's leg, and the Harpies..."

She trailed off, looking out the window uneasily, "they could come hunting us anytime now."

Verm paused, taking her in quickly, "you're Manda, right?"

She gave a jerky nod.

"So, Manda, Rabbit, Cube, and Boxer were in group A. According to you, only one might be fatally injured. The other two are MIA."

Another nod, and a thick swallow along with it.

"What a shitty situation," Eater mused. I nodded uneasily. I got the feeling Eater wasn't taking this seriously. I felt pretty removed from the situation myself, given how quickly we'd been shoved into it.

"Anyway, basically, they separated us from Cube and then… you know the rest."

"If Marik has an injured person, then I think that needs to be our first priority," Bonz said, "there've been loads of rumours about him being… vindictive at best. Especially when it comes to duels."  
"They're weirdly obsessed with dueling us," Manda said, "they could just beat the shit out of us and kill us, but they really want to duel us…"

Verm nodded, "it's part of the core programming, maybe the hacker didn't think to strip it away."

"Hacker?" Manda said, twisting around, her eyebrows slanted. Her hysteria seemed to be ebbing away as she calmed.

Verm almost looked guilty as he updated her.

"Plan," Eater interjected, "you take the majority of the group to the safe location like you planned, and you allow a few of us to go, scout, like, search for the missing people and bring them back."

Verm's face set into a hesitant frown.

"That would worry me," he admitted, "I can't afford to lose anyone here."

He paused and then took in a sharp breath, "I need to tell you something. It's important. I need you to be as careful as possible around here. You must have noticed by now that you feel pain, that your muscles spasm and ache? Well, it gets worse."

"How could it get much worse?" Eater said, lips turning into a lopsided grin, "what, is it one of those, 'you die in the dream, you die in real life' things? A bit of Nightmare on Elm Street?"

"Don't joke about this," Verm rebuffed, "because this game can actually kill you."

Eater's smile dropped. My face went slack with shock.

"Are you kidding me," I breathed, "I would never have signed up for this if I knew it could kill me! This is supposed to be a fun game, not some crazy conspiracy to get the players murdered!"

Eater shrugged, "well, I dunno about you guys, but I'm suing Kaiba."

Verm rolled his eyes, "you can try, but I'm pretty sure his lawyers can kick yours to the curb."

I grimaced tightly.

"Whatever," Manda interrupted, "we need to go to look for the others."

"Well aren't you a one track record," Eater joked, patting her shoulder, "shall we, then?"

She tensed at the contact, forcing herself to relax, "we shall."

Verm's jaw tightened while he considered the possibilities.

"you'll go anyway," he concluded with a sigh, "so… the best I can think of is we barricade ourselves in here for now."

"I'm going," Manda stated, "I'm going to punch the living shit out of them."

"So, Manda, Eater… anyone else?"

Ruin, who'd kept pretty quiet throughout the whole ordeal finally spoke up, "I'll go with those two, and that's it. Everyone else stays here, and stay together."

I shook my head, pressing on, "no. I'm coming too. I'm not about to let someone get hurt if I can help."

Vern groaned, "at this point, we may as well all go. Seriously… that just leaves two."

His face set in stone, he spoke with no room for argument, "Manda, Ruin, stay with me. Eater, Garoga, go look for the others. I'm going to move the group down a few houses, and leave one of the potted plants by the doorstep, just in case they decide to come and track the blood. They aren't smart enough to consider what a moved plant pot might mean, I don't think."

"Right," I agreed, "but try to make sure the plant isn't too obviously out of place."

I turned to Verm, "and I want to take the rod with me. It'd do in a pinch for a weapon."

He nodded, handing over the object. The blood was sticky against my palm. I tried not to think about who the blood belonged to.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Please R &R. We've almost hit 300 views. :) **


	9. Rabbit 2

**The usual disclaimer applies, and yes, I'm too lazy to copy and paste it.**

* * *

 **Rabbit**

 **Chapter 9**

Red-tinted hair, red-tinted sweater, (assumably) red-smeared skin. I think we have a pattern here. I crumpled on the floor in a heap, my hand clasped around my shoulder. I couldn't feel a deep rush of liquid through the sweater, but I could feel it dribbling down my skin, growing tacky in the layer between skin and woolen material. It was uncomfortable, and each movement sent a deep pang of pain radiating from my shoulder. I was dizzy, sick feeling, but it probably wasn't as deep as it appeared. Deep enough to do some damage, but something I could recover from.

I heard footsteps careening away, the sound of Manda's piercing cry as AI's pursued.

My vision smeared, eyes stinging. A sickening crunch paired with the agony that exploded into my ribs. I gasped, arms wrapping around myself and body coiling in on itself. I wanted to cry out to let out a shout, to move away, but all that dared escape my lips was a paltry moan of pain, a puff of breath struggling to escape from my mouth.

"Excuse me."

I barely picked up the smooth American twang and it took me a moment to realise I could allocate it to Cube or Boxer.

"You're excused," came Marik's reply, the two words punctuated with swift kicks that had me tearing up and crying out. Tears spilled from my eyes and I sobbed uncontrollably, arms up to protect my head. He stepped over my body lazily, sauntering towards the voice.

"But," the American male continued smoothly, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to teach you to respect the goddamn women around here."

There was a noise like cracking knuckles, and then a scuffle ensued between the two of them. I shifted on the ground, trying to untwist my body and stand. I could feel a hot trickle of liquid slipping from my nose, coating my face when I tried to wipe it away. Boxer. It was Boxer.

"This," my current favourite American shouted, "is why they call me Boxer!"

There was cracking noise that made me feel nauseous and a heavy thud as Marik's body toppled and hit the floor, before dispersing into blue cubes. Moments later, a warm hand pressed against my side, feeling along the curve of my side.

"I think you're alright," he said, sliding an arm beneath me and helping me sit up. A whimper bubbled up from deep inside my chest, insatiable.

"Come on, now," he murmured, his hand on my back. It was warm, compared to the bitter cold. My sweater, wet with blood, felt icy cold.

"He'll be back," I mumbled thickly, tucking a hand under my arm to cradle my aching ribs.

He just nodded, ushering me along.

"Come on. I haven't seen the others since Manda and I split. Maybe we can find them before they get into too much trouble."

I gave a low shudder.

"Where are we going to go? There's nowhere we can hide that they won't find, eventually."

"Well, Rabbit, we'll just have to hope that this situation is sorted out before we end up..." he trailed off, hurrying us along.

It felt like ten, fifteen minutes before we reached anywhere. I knew it must've been less, that my wounds were making me tired and slow, but the path felt endless. It usually does, when you don't really know where you're going. We had to hide whenever we saw AIs pop up as well, which was difficult to do. The streets were barren and only the darkness seemed to be our friend. Like us, they weren't perfect. They couldn't see in the dark.

"The costume shop," I said vaguely as we passed it, "lots of stuff in the window. Might be a good place to hide."

He let me lean against the window, my eyes darting around, squinting, while he rattled the door.

"I don't think we can get in, Rabbit," he said, eyes flicking at me as though he thought the realisation might hurt my feelings. I nodded.

"It's fine," I said. It wasn't fine. It really wasn't.

I grit my teeth and slid my hand under my jumper, trying to prise the material from my skin. My shoulder stung in response. I managed to pull my sweater off. In the dark, the gore of my wound looked like a terrible, twisted thing, all gnarled up and ugly. It's just dried blood, I told myself, running my palm around it. I was lucky that it was sharp. I'd learned young that a blunt instrument would heal much worse than a sharp cut. My sister had been drying a sharp knife when we were young and had turned to snap at my brother (who was, funnily enough, cautioning her about the knife). She ran the knife along the tea towel. The edge had sliced through the base of her thumb. The screaming and crying, at my young age, had stalled me. I stood there in shock until I finally scrambled through the living room to announce my sister's injury. It had healed, but it had taken a long time. She had to wear a pot, have an operation... it was messed up.

"You should probably keep that covered," Boxer said, glancing at me. I hummed, dropped the sweater on the floor.

"Oxygen is good for it, now it's stopped bleeding."

He gave me a look but said nothing. He came close, peering at my marred shoulder.

"It's not too deep," he said assertively, "but it's a bit wide."

"Wanna stick a finger in?" I joked, raising a hand to poke at the wound. I stopped at the last minute and instead pressed my palm against it. My hand came away sticky, so I wiped it down my jeans.

"Rabbit..."

"Mmm?"

"No offence, but we really need to keep moving."

As we moved, I thought about what I assumed was this morning, when I'd gotten up and ready to go to Kaibaland. I really hadn't suspected anything like this might even happen. My family, some of which flipped out at the thought of going to a theme park like Alton Towers these days, had actually waved me off on Facebook, told me to have a good day and enjoy myself, they were so certain that KaibaCorp's Duel Links was just going to be safe. I hope this is part of the game, that this is a plot Kaiba put in and didn't warn us about. At least I wouldn't feel like I was actually going to die.

"I've been doing a lot of walking around," Boxer said, "just back alleys mainly. I found some shortcuts."

"Cool," I said. We entered a dark alleyway. I trailed my fingers across the brick wall to my left. They felt too smooth, with barely an imperfections, but then... that's not exactly a bad thing, is it? It certainly felt nice.

"It's too quiet," I said. We stopped for a moment, ears pricked and listening. Nothing. I took off my glasses and swiped the thin material over the smudged lenses. My vision cleared slightly.

"I know what you mean," Boxer agreed softly, "there's usually a good couple near the main three locations, so what does that mean?"

I licked my lips, "are they searching in the buildings, do you think? Hoping to catch out the stragglers."

"It's possible."

I receded into my thoughts, slinking along like an alley cat, following Boxer like he had the key to getting out of this mess. He had no more of an idea than I did though. The pain in my chest, which had been so horribly painful earlier, had dulled to a slight throb. When we get injured here, does it heal faster? Or does it mean that it's been longer than we think it has? What if we haven't just been in here for a few hours, or a day? I shivered, tried to push that line of thinking away. Maybe it's a case of mind over matter? Our brains were somewhat in control here, if the brain was thinking that the body should be healing, maybe the system was pushing that agenda. Too many questions, too little answers.

We exited the mouth of the alleyway, coming out towards the PVP arena. I tensed up almost immediately.

"Have you seen the Harpies?" I whispered.

"I saw them not long ago," he replied, voice low, "they were not far from here, so keep your eyes open."

"Why are we here?" I asked quietly.

"Because, I'm pretty sure that I heard screaming not far from here before I found you," His mouth thinned into a grim line, "and not just that, there was shouting too."

My breath caught in my throat, "Manda and Cuber?"

"It wasn't her shouting," he replied, "and it didn't sound like Cuber either, but right now we sure as hell need to find them."

Footsteps echoed from the street to our right, the owner of which out of site. Boxer shoved me back against the alley and scurried back with me. I curled down into a squat praying the shadows covered me. We watched a Yami Yugi stride past. He was small and lithe, but his eyes screamed power and confidence. He was unbeatable in a duel from what I'd heard. My heart squeezed tightly in my chest. I could physically overtake him, that much I was fairly certain. I wasn't the tallest person, but I hit 5'5 and weighed in... err, to excess, let's say that, with a bit of muscle hiding under my curves. He meanwhile, looked extremely scrawny, and his blue jacket was probably bulking him out more than he actually was. Let's just hope he's not hiding some wiry muscles in a pinch.

I looked at Boxer, chewing the inside of my cheek. I shuffled to the edge of the alley, carefully peeking around the edge. He was still walking, his spiky hair blowing in the breeze. There was a strange moment, where he seemed to disperse out of sight.

"I think he's gone," I whispered.

Boxer took a quick glance and nodded, "yeah, we need to go."

I tightened my ponytail, combing back loose strands of hair with my fingers.

"Is now the time for that?" Boxer muttered. Ah, Boxer, with his blissfully short hair.

"If you have hair that gets in your face, I wonder if you'd still complain," I snapped, growling under my breath. Either way, at least this meant that I might have a better chance of not crashing into a bloody wall if I have to wall. I adjusted my glasses, pushing them up my nose and scowling through them. God, my shoulder was still throbbing.

I frowned, "Boxer. Are we just walking around for the sake of walking around?"

"Rabbit, we're walking around until we find someone, or until someone finds us. That's about the gist of it."

I grimaced. Tired and weak, I wanted nothing more than to sit down and curl in on myself, and lick my wounds until the world turned, twisted and flopped the right way up. Just think of it this way, I told myself. This, all of this so far, is still not as bad as the gallstones you had last year. I held back a disturbed bubble of laughter. The distant flap of wings made my stomach drop with fear.

"I'm so suing bloody Kaiba after I get out of this mess," I hissed.

"I'm pretty sure we all are," Boxer grunted.

The wingbeats sounded stronger now. We looked up at the bleak sky, straining our eyes in an attempt to see where the Harpies were.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, please R &R! **


	10. Eater (of Boomerangs) 1

**The usual rule of disclaimer apply.**

* * *

 **Eater (of Boomerangs)**

The two of us walked along the street, eyes peeled for trouble. Gar was pretty quiet, his dark eyes darting. He had a soft, well-rounded face that made him seem almost vulnerable, but underneath, I think perhaps I can see a glimmer of quiet confidence, the kind that breaks out when damsels need saving or some fool needs his ass picking up off the ground. My lips curled into a half-assed smile when my eyes found his palm, squeezed tightly around the golden-rod. The one that had apparently stabbed some chick's shoulder or something.

"Planning to use that, then?"

"If it comes down to it."

"Hmm. Cool." I sounded slightly disbelieving, and it's not because I was (because trust me, I know in the worst situations people are forced to grow a pair and get on with it) but more because of my tone. It can be slightly flat and dismissive without meaning to be. If Gar was offended, he didn't bring it up.

A piercing caw echoed way above us, making us both eye the sky a little warily. I know I'd feel a lot better to just be back inside at this point. After all. Giant Harpy Ladies weren't as likely to squeeze themselves into a cramped little building when all they really had to do was wait.

We heard footfalls ahead and both of us gave up other glances and slipped into the building's shadows, pressing against the brick walls. Joey Wheeler... huh. My lips almost turned up into a grin. One thing that was certain was that I could beat him easily if we were coerced into it. I'd done so countless times on Duel Links and this was hardly any different.

"I kinda want to duel him," I said, just loud enough for Gar to hear. He gave me a look, but it was ruined by his soft disposition. I turned to watch Wheeler wander off, doubtless to get his ass handed to him by Kaiba.

"Come on," Gar muttered, trudging off. His shoulders were slightly hunched, but he seemed determined if nothing else. We saw two silhouettes creeping slowly from a back-alley, one tall and one small. Gar squinted, pulling me into the corner.

"Hey," I hissed, rubbing my shoulder, "knock it off."

The couple ahead of us had also frozen, listening intently for us. AI or human?

"Are they still there?" A soft yet harshly accented (British, I think) voice said, after a pause. It was distinctly female. Given there were soft breaks and bubbles in her voice, where the words lilted and changed, grew sharp on certain letters, I could hazard a guess that she was human. It was too individual not to be.

It seemed as though her partner was about to speak, so I abruptly began to move, despite Gar's expression.

"Okay, so don't freak out," I cut in, stepping out of the shadows, "we're not AIs. We've not long actually got here. We're looking for the first group that did, trying to get everyone together."

The girl licked her lips, pulled her hair behind her ear with a shaking hand.

"I'm Rabbit," she said. She nodded towards a tall male, "this is Boxer."

"Eater," I introduced easily, grinning, "and-"

"I'm Gar," Gar jumped in. His voice was soft. Rabbit stepped forward, squinting to try to get a better look at him.

"I'm a guy," he said flatly, at her look.

"I wasn't trying to guess," Rabbit spluttered, her cheeks flushing, "I was just trying to get a look at you!"

Boxer hid a smile, turning his head away slightly.

"Look, is that Marik's rod you have there?" she pressed.

He nodded, "Manda had picked it up when we got her, and then I borrowed it in case we needed to use defensive measures."

She nodded back, picking at her nails as though she was nervous. She's a nervous little bun. I nearly grinned.

Gar sighed under his breath and licked his lips, "we should get you two back. I think that's almost all of us, and we could use the time to get a little energy back."

Rabbit nodded, leaning against Boxer. Her red hair flicked awkwardly behind her ears, drifting forward. She tucked it back again absently. I glanced around. They were all pretty chunky, compared to my very skinny frame. Well... chunky, curvy. You name it. They certainly had a broad range of height.

"Come on then," I said, nudging him. The four of us grouped together, Boxer and Rabbit still side by side. She gave Gar a scan that lasted all too long, and I recognised all too well. He noticed her gaze and gave her a smile, tight smile. She returned it, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"There's always a silver lining," she said under her breath to Boxer, who chuckled. Gar, impervious to the flirtations of the female, wandered on, dense as a brick wall.

"Can't wait to get inside," Boxer muttered. She nodded.

"Jesus, I feel like we're gonna get PTSD from this shit," she said. The walk wasn't too far, not really, and we managed to evade the view of any wandering AIs by temporarily splitting up and hiding where we could.

"I feel like we're in a stealth game at the highest difficulty," Rabbit moaned, "this feels like some Persona 5 shit."

Boxer shrugged. I didn't know if it was just because he was unfamiliar with the game, if he didn't care, or if it was his default reaction to the things life threw at him, and I didn't really care either way.

We reached the apartment allotments. There were a lot more AIs here, at least a dozen. I slunk back, gesturing for the rest of the group to stay put.

"Gar," I hissed, "can you see which door is the one?"

His dark eyes scanned and he shook his head, "there's one other there, the only one with a plant next to it, but there's so many AIs... we may have to duel some of them to get in."

Boxer nodded, "if we take 'em tag duel style, we should be able to take a mass amount of them down."

"We'd have to move after anyway," Gar said, "because too many of them would be attracted to the area that a load of them just disappeared from."

"Maybe if we have someone duel, the rest of us could escape inside," Rabbit began, "and lay low. The only problem is, the person dueling would have to be able to run, and... well. I'm not so sure they're even open to dueling so much as ripping us apart."

"Nah, Verm said they definitely will want to duel," I said.

"Verm?" Both Rabbit and Boxer chorused.

"Another one of yours?"

I shook my head, "Nah. Kaiba corp sent him in to try to get everyone safely together and away from trouble until Kaiba gets here. I'm not sure how it's gonna happen, but apparently, Kaiba's working on a back door out of this place for us."

The relief radiating off the two of them was all but palpable. Rabbit's shoulders relaxed from their tense state and she leaned back against Boxer with a low sigh.

"Thank God," she whispered. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and started again, "when we got here, there were only two legendary duelists. The numbers seem to be going up. We've seen Bakura, Marik, Yugi and even Mai. Have you guys seen anyone else?"

"We've seen Joey," I said.

"Well, nice as it is to have a headcount, I suggest we get a plan on the go," Gar said,"we're going to wind up in trouble if we stay here much longer."

I saw a flash in one of the windows nearby the apartment, a tuft of golden hair.

"I don't remember anyone of us with gold hair," I said softly, "and unfortunately... that implies that the Legendaries are searching the apartments anyway like we thought."

"It's like Watership Down," Rabbit sighed, "we all go in the tunnels, and they send the dirt and evil bunnies after us."

She glanced at Boxer, "and the irony of my nickname and reference are not lost on me."

He shook his head, "never said it was, Rabbit."

There was a flash at our window, Manda's pale face. She squinted out, caught sight of us. Rabbit gave her a nervous wave. Manda mouthed something. I shook my head. She was too far away. I couldn't make it out. Her fingers darted into her pockets, pulling out a lipstick. Backward, so we could all read it, she wrote: SURPRISE RUN.

Gar frowned, looking puzzled.

"I don't think she means us run there," Boxer said grimly, "I think they all want to try running from the house at the same time."

Rabbit looked up at Manda and shook her head, "There's too many of us. If we all huddle up together, it's too easy to find us."

"Hey, she's gesturing again," I said, following her pointed finger. More than a few windows along, there was another window, another face in it.

"They already split into groups," Rabbit realised, "I bloody hope that means they already have a plan."

"So, if they're running into different directions, or if we all are, then that must mean they have a location in mind to get to," Gar said hopefully.

"Or different locations."

One of the doors swung open, and Yami Marik stalked out, his fluffy mane a clear indication of which Marik we were facing. We shuffled back further, outside of his view.

"Now this is a nice view," a smooth baritone voice said. We twisted around so quickly I'm surprised spines didn't snap in the process.

"Kaiba," Boxer said, "I hope you know I've been waiting to beat your ass."

"Too busy watching the front to watch the back," I grumbled under my breath. Rabbit moved away from Boxer, sidling to Gar. If there was shit about to go down, she obviously wasn't interested in going for it. But then, her top was covered in blood. She was a mess. It was easy to understand why she was moving from the confrontation.

"I'll have your ass too, mate," I said, moving forward besides Boxer, "if you have a friend you want to invite, that just makes it all the better."

"Surprisingly, I'm not interested in some low rate duelists-"

"with fourth-rate decks," Rabbit finished.

"And yet here we are," Boxer replied, "because dueling is what you are here for. Better us than nothing, huh?"

"Hn," Kaiba grunted.

I caught Gar gently moving Rabbit behind him, as though she was too delicate to see such terrors as a children's card game. Suddenly, there were two simultaneous crashing noises, the noise of doors bouncing on their hinges. I caught two groups racing in opposite directions, with Manda splitting from her group to arrive next to us.

She all but screeched to a halt when she caught sight of Kaiba.

"Take care of him," she said, "and then I can tell you the next location."

I caught sight of the AIs running in several directions, some of them glitching out. We were far enough away that they didn't seem to be coming for us.

"I think we're in the clear," Manda said quietly. "I'm glad you guys got here before we all legged it. There were just too many. We couldn't risk it. Ever seen Attack on Titan? We're the humans, they're the Titans."

Rabbit slipped out from behind Gar and grabbed the smaller girl into a hug, nestling into her, "Okay, I love you, but please don't stab me again."

Her bubbling laughter was enough to break a little of the tension.

* * *

 **Thanks so much for reading! Sorry for the wait, I've got a lot going on with deadlines. I hope you liked the chapter, and pretty please R &R!**


	11. Bonz 1

**The usual disclaimer (and then some) applies.**

 ** _"a little bit of Bunny for the night,_**

 ** _a little bit of Boxer by your side,_**

 ** _a little bit of Manda's all you need,_**

 ** _a little bit of Bonz-ey's then you'll see,_**

 ** _a little bit of Joey, here he is._ _"_**

 **-Boxer, serenading Garoga (tune nabbed from Mamba 5/Lou Bega). We're all he needs for a good time. 3**

* * *

 **Bonz**

My feet pounded against the ground resolutely, arms swinging. I pushed myself hard, legs straining, twisting around. I skittered around a corner, shoving my hand against the wall and springing off against it. Verm sprinted ahead, his ponytail streaming behind him. Good thing he was leading the way. While I'd been listening, I had also been busy wrapping up thoughts in my head, like; what would happen if I died here? Would anybody actually give a shit? I wanted to snarl, show my teeth like an animal. Here I was, trapped in a cesspit of potential death and this is all I can think about, _who would give a shit if I died._

Would anyone even notice that I'd been in this situation and survived, survived something nasty and ungainly to leave more scars on my brain? I doubt it. You could splash the others and me on a newspaper's front page and I would be the last person anyone bothered to pick out.

I shook myself from the thoughts with a grimace and picked up my pace. Human instinct will keep us running just to spite us. Our group was heaving, drawing ragged breaths and shaking. There was a new fear in their eyes, a fear I recognised and despised as a result. I'd known what it was to be scared and furious. I hated seeing it reflected back at me.

The location Verm had outlined was a small building crushed into the back of the shops. Once we stepped inside, I looked around with quizzical expression. It was a small building, exceedingly cramped and uncomfortable. Why had Verm chosen here, of all places? The man himself said nothing, just shut the door behind us and clicked the small lock, sealing us inside.

"As long as Kaiba can hack into the system, he can move us all to the same location," Verm muttered to himself. A small frown indented his brows, "he should be here by now..."

"Why here?" I asked with voice loaded with sharpness. His ramblings were making me nervous, setting me on edge.

Verm glanced at me, "because it's inconsequential. The AIs think we've headed to an apartment or a big location, not somewhere like this."

Whatever. I scowled and leaned back against the wall. He hadn't even told us where the other group was going. If anything screamed suspicious in big letters it was him. I looked around, taking every single person in the room in. Ruin, Verm, Cube. Me. Someone in this group or the other had to know something. Was the person behind the hacking inside the system too? With us, or worse, sitting behind the scenes, pulling strings, well aware of where everyone was and where they wanted everyone... it made me feel sick inside. It felt almost like my organs were bubbling and decomposing with the rage running through me.

I'm not usually like this; I can be calm and patient, especially with the right people. But this situation is like a lighter and a powder keg. Something's gotta give.

I did not want to be sat here, waiting. I wanted to have the choice of moving, roaming.

Ruin shifted in his corner, stretching out his legs with a grunt. The movement caught my eye, made me focus on him.

"We're not safe," he muttered, eyes meeting mine. He was the same then. Anxious. Jumpy. Give me a gun and I'd probably crack a shot for every bang outside.

Verm sat down next him, sliding down the wall.

"I can't guarantee anything," he said, "all I can do is my best."

I snorted under my breath.

"Is your best good enough, Verm? Will it keep up alive?"

If he was upset by the snappy confrontation, he didn't show it.

"Bonz, chill out," Cuber interjected, "we're all freaking out right now, man."

I shook my head, "we don't have any answers about this and neither do they. You expect me to throw all my trust into a person I met barely a few hours ago, who immediately popped up to tell us all how screwed we are?"

"He can't do anything more," Cuber sighed. Ruin nodded grimly behind him. I set my teeth together, the sharp edges cracking against one another. What am I supposed to do here? Just _wait?_ I can't just do that.

"Where are the other group going?" Ruin asked uneasily.

Verm glanced over at him, "I didn't ask. I just told them to work together to pick a secure location."

"Why didn't you ask?" Ruin said, brow wrinkling like a puppy.

Verm exhaled deeply, "if we get caught and we know where the others are, how long into tearing us apart- and, yes, I mean that literally- for one of us to tell them where the rest of us are?"

Silence fell heavy over the room. Verm took to pacing from wall to wall, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth until I just wanted to strangle him and be done with it.

"Can you stop?!" I snarled finally, snapping my hand out. It smacked into the wall, banging loudly. It made Ruin jump, cringing, and push himself away from the wall.

"Can you?" Verm snapped, "ever since we got here, you've just been a heap of paranoia, and while I understand, I sympathise, there's no need to be like this to the people helping you out!"

I jumped forward, fists clenching tightly and heaving with anger.

"One more word," I bit out, "and I swear to God I'll pound your face in."

I was so angry I was shaking with it, my tendons standing out on my arms. Verm's face tightened. If he wanted to punch me, he could go right ahead. I'd bring him right down. His face went curiously blank and his eyes closed. He took in a deep inhale and then opened them. They were dense, dark with anger, but his lips turned into a thin smile.

"Whatever man. If you're that mad, you can leave," he leaned into me, his dark eyes narrowing, "no one would stop you."

Cube stood forward, his hands raised up in surrender, "look, we don't want anyone to leave, but we do need people to calm down."

There was something very warm and genuine in his expression, and after a few shuddering breathes I found my fury simmering down to something less significant. I drew myself back, hands releasing from fists.

"You're right," I said finally. I released a gush of breath, my muscles relaxing from their tensed state. Cube and Verm both seemed to relax with me, though Verm still kept astute eyes fixed on me. Ruin let his head fall lightly against the wall, his eyes closing. In all of this, he hadn't stood, had just stayed out of the way. I couldn't blame him.

I sat down next to Ruin, folding my arms and pushing my knees up to my chest. I suddenly felt very tired, very beat down. Cube gave me a slight smile. It helped put me a little more at ease, I'll admit.

"So," I said, "what kind of decks do you guys run, anyway?"

There was a pause before Cube smoothed his way into the conversation.

"I use a Nephthys deck, the main monsters in it are Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys and Hand of Nephthys," he said. I glanced at Ruin, but with the way his eyes were closed and his mouth slightly agape, chest rising and falling deeply, he was easily asleep.

"Nice," I said, blinking. I turned back to Cube to flash him a quick grin and then scanned the room again, resting my gaze on Verm. He said nothing, blankly staring at the wall opposite us. Brilliant. I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry man," I said, sighing, "I get it. I was just freaking out."

Verm's face seemed to relax from it's forced stoic slate and he turned to look at me, "it's fine."

Cube rubbed at his eyes, giving a low sigh, "so what about you guys? What decks do you guys use?"

I frowned, "it depends who I'm taking on. I have several fully-functional decks... I suppose, my zombie-deck."

Verm chuckled, "well, there's a surprise, huh, _Bonz._ "

I snorted, "obviously, but like I said... I have several."

Cube nodded, "I have a few decks set up too."

"I think we all do," Verm noted dryly, "maybe after this mess is cleaned up, we can have a less-than-deadly duel."

"I think I would actually like that," I agreed, lazily tracing patterns on the floor. Ruin jerked and snorted softly under his breath. For a moment, we all stilled, waiting for him to drift back off. It would be cruel to wake someone up while all this bullshit is going on. If someone can get some rest, get some. Though, I'm not sure how that works when you're technically already asleep.

I mean... bit weird. In here, you get hungry and thirsty and you need sleep. Is it just an echo of reality, of stress from the brain? I scoffed under my breath and then ran my tongue over my mouth. Dry lips. Thirsty. Not hungry.

"How long as we going to wait here? Are we not going to move even once?"

Verm rolled his shoulders, "I don't know yet. While it might be a good thing to move around if we move around too much we increase the chance of getting caught. If we stay here long enough, the same applies. It's really going to be a wait and see kind of thing."

Cube nodded while I barely reacted, just mulling it over in my head. It seemed at the same time there was both too much and too little going on. Too little we could do, too much actually going on. Outside, angry Harpy Ladies, AIs, Legendary Duelists (or Legendary Assholes, ladies and gentlemen, take your pick of the title) and on the inside, just a bunch of people shoved in a small room, cowering from everything out there. Cowering.

The word made me feel sick to my stomach. Cowering. Like I am weak. Weak. I swallow thickly, cracking my fingers slowly. Ruin made an odd snuffling noise in his sleep, his head rolling over to face me. His eyes flickered and opened, his mouth gaping as he sucked in a quick breath.

"Hey," he muttered, "we all okay?"

I nodded at him and turned away, drawing in a deep breath. I thought this was going to be a good time, but just like everything else, it's all gone to shit.

* * *

 **Please review!**

 **(sorry it's a little shorter than usual!)**


	12. Yugi 1

**The usual disclaimer applies! For the first time, ladies and gents, I present... a Yugi chapter! Whoo!**

* * *

 **Yugi**

I settled down into the pod, wriggling around to get comfy. A low comfortable grumble came from my chest. My hair was like a thick cushion beneath my head, and the blonde streaks hung against my cheek. I could see the dusky reds from the corner of my eyes, nestled against the blonde wisps.

There was a low beep and the lid started to close over me. I could see my reflection in the glass, eyes heavy-lidded, mouth set into a line.

It wasn't long before the gas intercepted the pod and my eyes fluttered shut.

The feeling of falling, disorientating but familiar, and then blue. Blue everywhere, blocks and lines streaking all around me. White text appeared before me, informing me the game was loading.

My stomach lurched, I blinked, and then there I was. Duel Links. Kaiba stood next to me, uttering a snarl under his breath. He was toying with something in his arm, something he hadn't been wearing when we came in.

"What's that?" I questioned.

"I don't know, but it's blocked me from gathering everyone. We have to do it manually."

"Is there a way we can find them?"

"I sent Verm into the system as a backup, to keep everyone safe-"

The little armband on his arm lit up and a small hologram of Mokuba popped up.

"Hey, big bro! I can't get rid of this armband thing but I found out I could access it. I can lead you to the life signs. I thought I had the back door open but..." he hesitated, face falling, "well. I'll keep trying. I'm sorry..."

My stomach squeezed. I honestly felt bad for Mokuba. Kaiba stood there, scowling like he'd bitten a lemon.

"Keep trying, Mokuba," he demanded, "get someone else online to direct us to the life readings."

Mokuba gave a small nod.

"Don't worry, Mokuba," I said. I gave him a thumbs up and a wry smile, "I believe you can do this."

He gave a little smile and then disappeared from view.

"I wonder if whoever is behind this intended for this to happen," I mused, "he already had a plan in mind for when you came in."

"Whoever did this is going to pay," Kaiba growled.

A familiar screeching made me frown, glancing up towards the source. A Harpy Lady roosted up above, talons wrapped around a streetlight.

Kaiba's armband flickered and a young male appeared in the hologram, from the shoulders up.

"Hello," he greeted pleasantly, "I am ready to direct you when you are."

"Brilliant," I said, taking a step closer to Kaiba. His glare could have seared a steak from raw to charcoal.

"What's your name?" I continued quickly.

"Mouad," he said, "but on Duel Links, I go by Joey Wiener."

I paused. I think my mouth fell open a little but nothing came out. Meanwhile, a nasty smirk had grown on Kaiba's face.

I coughed lightly and shook my head, "right. Ah... go on?"

"Well," he said, "you are currently by the fountain. You need to walk away from it, towards the center of Duel Links. There are two masses of life signals. I'll take you to the outside group first."

We looked at him expectantly.

"Uh, you need to start walking," he said pointedly.

The two of us started walking down the down cobbled street. Kaiba's boots clicked with every step but the rhythm was kind of soothing.

Once we hit the center, he directed us towards an alleyway near a row of apartments.

"Get away from me," a female voice, filled with warning echoed. A curvy woman wearing an all too familiar white coat caught my eye and a slow smile tugged at my lips. She backed away, her dark red hair being played with by the breeze. Behind her, a group of people was gathered, including a young woman who was leaning heavily against a heavyset male.

A threatening chuckle sounded and Kaiba stepped from the shadows. His face was twisted into a maniacal grin and his eyes gleamed with sadistic glee.

"Kaiba," I barked. My Kaiba glanced at me for a moment while the other, once he caught sight, almost rippled with rage.

"Yugi," he sneered, "the so-called King of Games..."

I hummed, impatience rippling through me. There was a time I was more patient than anyone I knew, but as time goes on, my patience can wear thin. Especially when it comes to Kaiba.

"Excuse me," an American twanged, "but this duel is mine."

Both Kaiba and his doppelganger seemed to snort at that.

"whatever dweeb," AI Kaiba spat, "I'll get rid of you in mere seconds."

"I'm Boxer, not dweeb, and you are going to eat your words, Koiba."

The smaller redhead grabbed the two people gathered behind Boxer and tugged them both towards Kaiba and I.

"Hello," I greeted with a warm smile. Between Kaiba and I, I think they actually got a little flustered. I chuckled lightly.

"Hi," the small redhead greeted, "I'm Manda."

"Nice to meet you," I said, a smile growing, "I like your coat. It's very inspired."

She gave a short laugh, "thanks. It took me a long time to make."

Kaiba took her in a quick glance, turning up his nose.

Boxer and Kaiba strode away from one another, creating space between them.

The other guy, just a few inches above the unnamed redhead, ushered her closer to me, as though it would make her safer.

"I'm Gar, by the way," he said quietly, giving me a tense smile, "and this is Rabbit. She's hurt."

He turned to look at Kaiba with an almost hopeful expression, "are we able to go home now?"

Kaiba shook his head.

"Kaibacorp is working on it," I said hastily, "it's nice to meet you."

I extended my arm and Gar dutifully shook it. Rabbit looked at me from her place beside him, smiling slightly. She detracted herself from him and shook my waiting palm.

Her hands were strangely calloused at her fingertips compared to the usual softness.

"Duel!"

I snapped myself from the friendly greetings and pushed myself back into the game.

The moment the game began, Boxer activated Joey's Special Ability, putting the field spell Sogen into play.

In turn one, AI Kaiba summoned Battle Ox. Turn two, Boxer summoned Six Samurai Zanji. He attacked Battle Ox, cutting through into Kaiba's LP. Only 100lp, but anyone who has played Duel Monsters long enough knows that little things can be your undoing.

Kaiba growled with his teeth bared, "I play twister and destroy your field spell."

Boxer shrugged, unfazed.

"You won't like this," Boxer smirked, "I summon Six Samurai Irou. I then special summon Great Shogun Shien. I attack your facedown with Irou, which activates his effect and destroys your monster. Of course... this leaves you wide open for attack."

He cleared his throat, threw his arm out and declared a direct attack with Shien and Zanji.

AI Kaiba reeled back, shouting. His image crackled and burst into blue blocks before disappearing.

"And that is _Game,"_ Boxer said smugly

The real Kaiba barked out a laugh, "how pathetic. Who the hell was in charge of my deck build?" He shook his head, "whoever it is, they're fired."

"Kaiba," I said with a sigh, "all the legendary duelists are put down to around the level of the player, or what the player chooses. Don't fire someone for making the game fair to new players."

Manda nodded resolutely, "definitely. A lot of people on Duel Links aren't good at it. If you don't give them time to learn and adjust and just get new cards, then none of us will improve."

She seemed incredibly bold as she stood next to Kaiba. As usual, he was radiating his don't-even-come-close vibe, but either Manda wasn't bothered by it, or couldn't notice it. Her lips seemed curved up into a smile that exuded sultry excitement and her head was carefully tilted so she could see Kaiba out of the corner of her eye. Didn't she trust him? Ah. I wanted to laugh. Her eyes were secretively fixed on his chest.

Boxer strode towards him, his bulk impressive in the smoldering dark.

"We'll have to duel personally some time," he said.

Kaiba raised a brow, "I really doubt you're anywhere close to my level."

A chuckle rumbled from Boxer, his face cast into amusement, "I'm sure you'll manage to catch up to mine."

"Well, would you look at that," Rabbit sighed leaning against Gar easily, "we've got two egos to boot."

Despite the fact that all of the people hadn't known each other before coming into this situation, they seemed to have grown bonds very fast. It was impressive and made my heart feel a little warmer inside, a little more hopeful. It was a nice feeling.

I gave a small chuckle and said, "I think we've had enough banter, don't you? We've got to collect the rest of you."

There was a ripple of nodding like someone had set off a chain reaction. I caught Rabbit slumping back against Garoga, her face pale as milk.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

She just shook her head tiredly and closed her eyes.

"We need to go," Garoga said, sliding an arm under her waist and hoisting her against him.

"Obviously," Kaiba muttered, stalking ahead. He shook his armband and once again, 'Joey' appeared.

"Group two is located nearby the shopping row, in one of the backhouses, that should give you everyone."

"Great," I said, folding my arms and scanning the others, "we'll follow you when you're ready, Kaiba."

"Of course you will. It's what you always do," Kaiba snapped. I caught Manda trying to bite back a smile. Evidently, she found him funny.

"God, you're so bitchy you could rival a drag queen," she spluttered. Rabbit gaped her face flushing red. Boxer actually laughed outright, and even Gar spluttered.I was so shocked by the comment I choked slightly, clapping a hand to my mouth.

Kaiba's face was stricken with black, thunderous rage so intense the laughter died out extremely fast. Except for Rabbit, who was struggling not to start laughing again.

"I don't know why you're so shocked about a comment like that," Manda said, straight-faced as she could manage, "I mean, you do rock some serious hooker boots."

He towered over her backing her into a corner and slamming his arms either side of her.

"Kaib-" I started.

"Shut up," Kaiba demanded. He stared at the girl in front of her, her eyes glittering with wicked amusement, his white teeth flashing in the light.

"I didn't have to come in here to save you. I have a lot of better things to be doing and trust me, a little fangirl isn't one of them."

It took a moment for the joke to hit me and when it did I gaped, "Kaiba!"

Manda paused. He was leaning in, becoming more imposing by the second. She leaned up, opened her mouth, and bit the end of his nose. He reeled back like she'd slapped him, looking shocked, like he couldn't absorb what had just been done to him. Even she looked rather surprised like she'd moved entirely without thinking.

I rubbed my temples with my fingers, unsure what to make of any of this.

"Right," I groaned, "let's just go."

"You got it," Manda said quickly, darting out of Kaiba's way and standing next to me. I shook my head, mildly amused. You have to admit, she has some nerve. OIt almost reminded me of Tea, the way she'd slap down Kaiba with a friendship speech with absolutely no fear of being ripped apart by his cruel words.

* * *

 **Who is shipping who, I wonder? :3 Either way, thanks so much for reading. Please drop a review!**


	13. Garoga 2

**This chapter is mainly a bit of shipping (Gar x Rabbit) (Manda x Kaiba) and a lil bit of plot. As usual, none of this belongs to me but to their respective owners.**

* * *

 **Garoga**

People seem to forget I'm here a lot. Since we started walking, the others trade slight banter and chatter so easily they might as well be best buds. Except for Kaiba, but even he is getting his fair share of natter, from Manda especially. Boxer, Manda and he seem to run rings around each other, trading insults in one breath and compliments in another- well, Manda and Boxer share the compliments, Kaiba shares a variety of snide remarks instead- and then there's Boxer sidling along, involving the quiet Yugi Mouto into their little group. He gives the odd little chuckle and joins in here and there but is mostly quiet. Rabbit tried to talk at first, but after a few remarks from Kaiba, she quickly fell silent. She was probably the closest one to me, her shadow stretching out next to mine. She looks grim in expression, her head bowed down, her feathery red bangs falling in front of her eyes.

If it wasn't for the fact that she'd been beaten down, possibly upset by Kaiba, I might have joined in myself, but instead... I was just happy to be separate with her. She was the center of my attention right now and all it took to get it was her intense silence, the brooding in her half hidden expression, the swell of her lower lip pulled in under her teeth subtly.

We could hear the Harpies, as always, but I seemed to be growing complacent to the shrieking. None of them really seemed to be shirking away from the noise. In the chatter, I placed my hand lightly between her shoulders, hoping to display comfort. She looked up, for a moment bewildered, and then settled. She gave me a little smile and a nod, as if it say, _I accept your comfort._

"Are you okay?" I mouthed, the words not quite making it from my lips. I gave an awkward smile and her lips curled up, her blue eyes glinting. She gave a nod and a hum.

"Yeah," she said, "just ready to get out of here."

"I think we're all ready for that," I agreed.

None of us were expecting what happened next. I caught a dark shape hurtling from the sky from my peripheral vision, wings outstretched, her mouth split open freakishly wide, pearly white teeth gleaming in the light. It shot straight into Rabbit, batting me to the floor. Before I'd even gotten up, its talons were wrapped tightly around her torso. Rabbit was screaming in terror, thrashing hysterically.

"Rabbit!" I shouted, feet scuffing as I struggled to my feet. "Rabbit!"

The group seemed to move as one, serging after its stolen member. Yugi and Kaiba wore grim matching expressions, their lithe bodies racing like foxes after a- oh Jesus, why- rabbit.

"She's fucking hurt, get moving!" Manda screamed, "Gar! Gar, get that rod ready!"

Rod? The gleam of gold caught my eye and I raced towards it, stooping down to grasp it. Her scream seemed to be fading. It was carrying her higher and higher, her legs kicking frantically.

Yugi looked at Kaiba desperately.

"Hello? Hello? Mister Kaiba?" a voice chirped from his wristband, "Mokuba said he's managed to get a surprise through-"

"Not now!" Kaiba snarled.

"-and that you should shout for your deck master monster. You only get on-"

The voice cut off abruptly. Kaiba had muted him.

"Stupi-"

"Shut up Kaiba," Yugi shouted and then throwing his arm out, he declared, "I summon the Dark Magician!"

A deep purple summoning circle exploded on the ground in front of it, and the Dark Magician rose from it, staff in hand. He looked up, purple eyes gleaming and shot up into the air.

"Get the girl!" Yugi cried.

Spluttering, Kaiba joined suite, shouting, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Lay waste to your enemy!"

There was a terrible roar from above, so monstrous it seemed to shake the world. The creature seemed to unfurl from the moon, scales glistening, wings outstretched as it hurtled towards the earth, only to land on the rooftops near us. It gave another fearsome roar.

"White lightning attack!"

"No, you'll hit her!" I screamed.

Too late. The stream of white lightning was already crackling through the air, straight for her. Instinctively, the bird-like creature dropped Rabbit, arcing away from the stream and shooting towards the ground, circling around and careening towards me, claws outstretched to capture another prey. Letting out a scream of rage, I slammed the Millenium rod forward. It punctured into its belly easily, splitting through to the other side. Its belly was pressed right up against the circular globe at its end, the eye stained scarlet. Blood was spattered onto my clothes, a dribble of it slipping down my cheek. It yanked itself free of my hands, taking the rod with it, and swooped back, smacking against a nearby wall. It gave a forlorn shriek, claws trying to pull the rod back. Its head grew slack, dropping down, and eyes drew close. The soft, pained noises went through me like a knife, making me feel almost guilty despite that this creature had nearly killed one of us.

My attention riveted by the Harpy, I let out a shocked gasp when I realised Rabbit had dropped off my radar. I twisted around, already storming ahead. She was inside the Dark Magician's arms, her curvy frame made almost contrite in comparison to his height. He crouched slightly to deposit her to the ground. I raced forward, reaching for her with hands silky with blood.

"Rabbit," I choked, "are you okay?"

She nods, extremely shakily, and I wrapped my arms around her.

Yugi appears relieved, his mouth twisted into a slight smile.

"At least we finally have an offensive," he said.

Kaiba grunted and Manda fixed him with a look.

"Don't be grumpy just cos you didn't listen and Yugi did," she said warningly. Her deep chocolate coloured eyes stared at him intently, her mouth set into a line.

Rabbit gave a soft groan from inside my arms, struggling to her feet. I stood alongside her. She reached up, hands tangling in my hair and pulled me down. My breath caught in my throat, eyes settling on the swell of her lips. For a moment, I half allowed myself to think about her kissing me, but then she pulled me down and pressed her lips against my forehead. My cheeks set aflame.

"Thanks," she said, giving me a quick grin. She had a little gap between her teeth I hadn't really noticed til now, and her rounded cheeks had an eternal rosy tint that didn't seem to go away. My cheeks still red, I looked away. Both the dragon and the Dark Magician had disappeared from sight.

"I wonder if it works for us too," I wondered aloud.

Rabbit shrugged, adjusting the hem of her jumper. Manda slunk between us, slung an arm around both of our shoulders and squeezed us all together.

"I ship it," she stage-whispered. Both Rabbit and I went bright red and Rabbit gave a nervous laugh.

"It's not like that," she said.

I felt a twinge deep in my stomach, as though she'd hit me.

"He's not interested, he's just being a sweetheart."

Okay, scratch that. My stomach flopped on itself side and damn near flew up my throat. It's true that I'm not exactly one for relationships (and that includes the one-night stand variety, thank you) and I'm dense as bricks when it comes to noticing someone actually likes me, but this was a new height. What do I even make of that? _'He's_ not interested?' Does that infer she is? I swallowed thickly.

She rubbed her shoulder lightly, "besides... we barely know each other. I think I'd like a chat with a cuppa tea and a biscuit first."

I nodded, but I couldn't shake the tense feeling in my chest.

"Maybe a few children's card games first?" Boxer joked.

Yugi cracked a light smile while Kaiba -of course- sneered. There are just certain things that people do that basically represent them. For Yugi, it's that little thumbs up or a warm smile. For Manda, it's her cheeky, bubbly enthusiasm. For Kaiba... it's just sneering. All the time. I don't think I've ever seen him crack a genuinely nice smile or grin. There's always a dark intent behind it, an awful heckling. I really don't know what the female population seems to find so attractive about him, though I guess abs are always a plus.

The thought made me look down. I have a softly rounded body, like a doughnut. Rabbit and Manda are both quite similar, but with curves dipping in at the right places. Rabbit seemed to notice my downward gaze. She leaned in and grabbed me in a quick hug or possibly a stranglehold. It was quite tight and kind of felt like it was breaking my neck.

"Sorry," I said, leaning back and cracking said neck.

"Sorry," she replied back, flushing. I'd embarrassed her. Great.

Manda leaned against her, her head resting on Rabbit's shoulder. Rabbit gave a small wince, but said nothing, merely giving a light smile.

"So... I forget if I asked, but does anyone cosplay?"

"You do," Rabbit said, plucking at the coattails of Manda's coat.

"Yes, but do you?" Manda persisted.

"Yes, but does he?" Rabbit said, mimicking her tone and looking at me.

Wait, what?

"Uh..."

"Who do you cosplay, Rabbit?" Boxer asked.

"Ah, Bakura," she said, almost apologetically, "it's not very good though."

"Shut up and let's go," Kaiba interrupted, shoving his way through the group. We followed him, murmuring to one another while Kaiba turned his arm device back on.

"and then that dickwad muted me," a voice complained from the device.

My lips twitched while Manda let out a snigger. Boxer rumbled with laughter.

"Wiener," Kaiba snarled.

That was it. Most of the group heaved with laughter, grabbing on to one another as staggered through the street. Rabbit and I stayed separate, though that hasn't stopped us from having our own little chuckle.

"So," Rabbit said casually, "would you, perhaps, fancy a cup of tea and a biscuit after all this is over?"

My own lips stretched into a smile, replaying her words from earlier: _I think I'd like a chat with a cuppa tea and a biscuit first._

So... she was interested after all.

"That'd be great," I said, "but you'd have to allow me to pay."

Her brows skyrocketed and she gave a low laugh, "How about we just pay for our own? My coffee/tea kind of tastes can get expensive."

I gave in. For now.

"I think we should all go a coffee or a drink after this," Manda contemplated, "it would be nice, yeah?"

There was a chorus of general agreement.

"Are we near the other group yet?" Boxer grumbled, smoothing his hand over his head.

Kaiba grunted. Manda leaned into Rabbit, and I could just catch her faint whisper of, "they say the quiet ones usually are loudest in bed."

Rabbit coughed lightly, trying to chase off her impending laughter. Her voice was a little louder when she spoke, catching more of the group's attention, "so they say, but I can assure, my experience says the quiet ones are just kinky, not loud."

And my experience is no experience so I can't exactly join into this joke.

Manda snickered, "my experience says-"

"Your experience has nothing on me," Kaiba interrupted, twisting back to hear, "so shut up."

There was a pause.

"As in, you have more experience than me, or my experience doesn't match up to what you do in the bedroom?"

"I bet it's the latter," Rabbit muttered.

* * *

 **Phew! Just in time to make this an Easter chapter, huh? Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this. Please R and R! 3**


	14. Boxer 2

**The usual applies! I also wanted to thank everyone who reviewed. :)**

* * *

 **Boxer**

I am actually sweating. I can feel it trickling down my face because even though I am dressed in loose clothing and it actually quite cool, all things considered, I am warm. It must be all the walking, the running, catching up to me. All that work and I bet that in reality not even a single pound has been shed. Most of the others looked a little flushed too. My stomach complained, growling loudly. Obviously, I was hungry.

"How long have we actually been in the system?" I asked, wincing. No answer was given.

We stopped outside a door. Kaiba tried the door. It gave very, very slightly but refused to open. Kaiba snorted, "it seems they've barricaded themselves in."

Yugi dipped his head in agreement and stepped forward to rap on the door. No response.

I shook my head impatiently, "yeah, they're really gonna respond to what is probably an AI trying to scope out the place."

Manda squished herself up against the door, shoving her face against the crack, "hey guys, it's me, it's Manda. We got Kaiba!"

There was a shuffling noise from behind the door and it cracked open to reveal Verm. He opened the door quickly, eyes darting around.

"Were you followed?"

Kaiba sneered, "I think I'll be asking the questions."

Verm nodded. His movements were jagged like a hummingbird on crack. He stepped outside, gesturing for the rag-tag group inside to follow him out. A few small males escaped, including Cuber.

"Hey," Manda breathed, squeezing between Kaiba and I and wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a breeze squeeze, "I thought you were dead, Christ."

Cuber gave a small smile, allowing her to hug him with the enthusiasm of a wet piece of paper. While he didn't seem to mind, he certainly didn't seem into it either.

"That's a lot of blood," Verm said slowly, studying our group, "whose is it?"

Garoga tugged at his bloodied t-shirt. It was slowly turning stiff, forcing ridged contours into the t-shirt that weren't naturally there.

"Stabbed a Harpie," he mumbled, face downcast. His curly hair fell over his face, but I just a glimpse of something disturbed reflecting in his eyes.

"It shouldn't have bled," Verm muttered, "no matter what. This is supposed to be a kid's game!"

Kaiba snarled under his breath, shooting him a very obvious _shut-up_ look.

"Things are messed up enough," I said, "but whoever is doing this... they really want to fuck us up. They even added blood, guts... I mean, shit, these things usually explode into light."

Kaiba's face twisted into rage, "I don't like anyone screwing around with my projects," he spat, "so trust me when I say they'll get what's coming to them."

"Yeah, you're really showing them."

The words escaped from my mouth before I could filter them, but I can't say I regretted them because, damn... it was true. Even if he got us all out of here, it wouldn't get his little Hacker on the ropes. I took in our group, looking at the absolute mess we were all in. We were like scattered, tatty toys a kid hadn't yet gotten bored with. We've been played with to the point of total agony, but there is always more to come. I frowned. At least, there's more to come until there isn't.

My eyes fixed on Gar, saw the pain in his eyes, and then flitted to the shorter girl beside him her shoulder still coated with scarlet. Her jumper was hanging on her frame in shreds. I hope, despite the blood, she still found some warmth in it. She leaned against Gar, her eyes dense, out of focus. She was dreaming I bet. Dreaming of being home. My gaze turned, once again, to Manda. Relentlessly cheery, but to the point where you could see cracks in her smile, in her shaking body.

Kaiba stared down at me, his expression dark. He had no control over this. He was angry at all of us because somehow this was our fault. I could see it in his eyes.

"Clever King of the Castle, hn?" I said, stepping forward. That look was making me feel insanely pissed, "so when are you gonna get us out of here?"

My fists were all but burning with the desire to punch him square in the face.

"Shut up," Kaiba growled.

"Both of you should calm down," Yugi interjected hastily.

"Bo- Bonz, don't-" A young male hissed from the corner, yanking back a taller male. His face was creased into a terrifying snarl.

"Don't you tell him to shut up," he snarled.

"Please, calm-" Yugi attempted to beg.

Manda and Rabbit seemed to step forward almost at once, with Manda edging off Kaiba and pushing him from the fight and Rabbit stepping forward to talk to Bonz. Rabbit allowed Bonz to snarl at her for a bit until he began to calm, while Kaiba remained rigid, a stick stuck up his ass so high I doubt he could find it with a flashlight and a pair of latex gloves.

I took a few deep breathes, trying to dispell the need to crunch his nose in.

"Got anyone at home? Boxer?" Manda said, blinking innocently up at me. Her dark eyes were stunning shades of brown, deep and wise as an owl.

"A fiancee," I said, clearing my throat, "Veronica. She's a human of the female variety"

Manda bubbled up with laughter and nodded, a sweet but cheeky smile on her lips, "I bet she's a lucky lady."

I chuckled, "I'd hope so."

Rabbit retreated from Bonz's side to stand next to Gar. She gave him a quick toothy grin, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Kaiba tapped his armband impatiently, "Wiener, hurry up with that update."

"Kaiba? Are you there? I can see you but there's no audio."

The group fell deadly silent, listening in on the conversation that was barely taking place.

"Mokuba... exit... cut..." Wiener tried to say, and then the imagery the little armband projected flickered and went out altogether.

"What the hell is going on?" Manda said. Her brow furrowed, her eyes looking suspiciously wet. The strain appeared to get right through to her. She sat on the ground, her arms draped over her knees, taking in a deep breath, her shoulders heaving.

"I hate this," she announced hollowly, "I don't think I ever want to try this thing again."

"I want to go home," Rabbit mumbled, burying her head into Gar's shoulder.

"We all do, obviously," Bonz grouched, his back against the wall and face set into a scowl.

"Have you maybe tried not being an asshole?" Gar frowned.

"Just please stop fighting," Yugi begged. His violet eyes seemed worried in a way that I'd never seen them before. Every time I saw on him TV or dueling in person, he always seemed so cool and collected. I figured that was because the some of the events were staged. With the way he seemed to be losing his control, it was hard to avoid seeing it that way.

Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. Manda pressed her hand against the small of his back, looking worried. Of course, she was worried. She was just a fangirl when it came to him. I scowled. She was wasted on him.

"So what's the plan now?" Gar said. His voice sounded sluggish and sad. Christ, we are all starting to rip at the seams.

"Kaiba?" I said. I met his gaze head-on, "what is the plan?"

His shoulders seemed to square up, as though I'd challenged him, and he remained tense.

"I don't know," he said. His words were little more than a whisper.

"Come on," Manda urged, "you're clever, you can think of something."

He seemed to shake himself, his eyes snapping back to their sharp focused glare.

"Of course I can," he said, very slowly, very intently. I have no doubt that Manda was completely focused on the shape of his lips as he spoke, no doubt imagining what they felt like. I can only imagine how many people do the same thing to her when she's talking. I doubt she even notices.

Of course, we never have long to think around here, let alone talk and rever each other's mouths. I caught a flash of red in the endless night and focused on it. A cap. The Vagabond.

"Guys," I said, nodding towards him.

"Shit," Manda grumbled, "I hate this guy."

He pulled back the hat and dropped it on the ground, revealing his soft brown hair. When he looked up, his face was distorted, his eyes sunken into pits of pure skin. He was blind?!

"Jesus," Rabbit breathed, "this is some Silent Hill bullshit."

I was inclined to agree. His mouth opened, teeth flashing, giving a sickened moan. My stomach lurched.

"We're supposed to duel him," Manda said breathlessly, "he's blind, he's glitched..."

"His software has been corroded and replaced," Kaiba said softly, "he's not the Vagabond I designed anymore."

I stepped forward, staring at him. His skin seemed to bubble around his eyes where his shading used to be.

"If he's been replaced, then what with."

"With me," a very soft voice said. It came from his mouth completely out of place, though I couldn't say whether or not that was simply because I had never heard him speak before or just because the voice sounded quite distorted.

"I'm just an echo of the person pulling the strings now. I'm here to see to it that someone dies."

"Why?" Rabbit said, her voice a trembling whisper. Its eyeless head twisted towards her like it had a sick kind of echolocation.

"I'm here to see to it that someone dies."

"Why?" her voice broke on a sob.

"I'm here to see to it that someone dies."

Kaiba shook his head, "you're wasting your breath. His words are pre-ordained."

"What happens if we win?" I said.

"Then I lose."

"No shit, Sherlock," Manda snarled, "but does anything happen, does anyone get to leave!"

The Hackers head pivoted, it's mouth working around silent words.

"Now we're speaking to someone," Kaiba breathed, "look at it. It's having a new line added to its brain."

"Then he will take down the barricades he has put up to keep Mokuba from creating a back-door."

"Oh, how nice of him," Rabbit murmured, "I wonder how many barricades there are?"

I wiped my brow, noticed my hand was shaking. There was something extremely damaging about watching all of this. I was becoming afraid that we weren't ever going to be able to leave this place without dying. I don't want to... I don't want to die.

"I refuse to die here," Kaiba snapped. His arm, possibly without his noticing, had snaked around Manda's waist. I suppose in some way, he had a need to protect people, like he had the need to protect Mokuba.

God, I wanted to go home. I could imagine it now, just going to bed and relaxing and letting all of this bullshit fall off my shoulders like a bad dream. If only things were actually that easy, huh?

"If he keeps his word and removes those barricades we can go home," I said finally, stepping forward, edging my way between Yugi and Kaiba. Those two seemed to gravitate so closely it was easier to notice when they weren't together.

"I'll fight for that," I finished.

I'm pretty sure the Vagabond flat-out ignored me but the others fixed me with a variety of looks that were half adoration, half _what-the-fuck-are-you-doing-now?_

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading. I bashed this chapter out in a few hours and finished at 2:14 AM (yay me!). I hope you guys enjoyed the vague shipping going on, as well as getting a bit more insight into the situation. Sorry to cut you off on a cliffhanger, but hey... it's never long til the next one.**

 **Please R and R!**


	15. Ruin 1

**The usual disclaimer applies. :) Don't forget, these people are based on those from the Tristan Taylor Discord, so feel free to join us.**

* * *

 **Ruin**

Boxer's voice echoed, his sharp declaration bouncing through the air, his dark eyes flashing with fury. He would have done it, I bet if he had his way, but everyone seemed to ignore him, glancing around at Yugi and Kaiba. Of course, all eyes were on them; they were the interesting ones, the ones with a reputation. I wonder which one of them would actually take him on? Yugi or Kaiba? These were high stakes.

This guy, whoever was hiding behind the Vagabond, had something against Duel Links, that much was clear, and by Duel Links that probably means he actually wants Kaiba. It makes me wonder why he just didn't try something physical but then... I guess Kaiba's learned a thing or two about protecting himself by now, since those nutjobs with their, "we'd really like to steal your souls and use them to raise the Leviathon," mentality.

Man, Kaiba has a hell of a lot of just, ah... _crazies_ after him. Crazies. What a word. I brushed a hand through my black curls, feeling the spring of my afro-like hair shoot back into place almost instantly. I grimaced and removed my slim glasses, wiping the foggy lenses. The air plus my very warm breath was making for an uncomfortable experience, but whatever.

You could say I was rooting for Kaiba to be the one. He's always been a favourite of mine, purely because of his snarky behaviour. I rubbed at my eyes.

"As much as I'd like to volunteer," Yugi said, his rich baritone probably exploding a dozen female ovaries in one fell swoop, "I fear that this rests at your feet, Kaiba."

The brunette sneered and folded his arms, his nose up in the air further than a dog that smells treats.

His nose shoved so high must be signified some kind of agreement because everyone seemed to back away from the duo, letting the grid form. I took a few leisurely steps back, sauntering around the edge of it of the glowing lines. Without a doubt, Kaiba would bring his majestic dragons to life.

Two arms stretched out, snatching the air in their fingers as they spread, faces becoming dense and dark and the word thundering from deep within, "duel!"

A cruel whiplash of air swerved and crashed through the alley, whispering. My eyes caught sight of a creeping shadow stretching across the wall, silhouette extended into sharp points where it's whacky hair seemed to explode. My eyes traced the shadow to its source, landing on amber eyes that glowed with something incredibly dark. Yugi caught my gaze, eyes turning towards a perfect mirror of his own (well... I say 'perfect' but Yugi's eyes don't burn with murder. Not that I can see anyway.). His mouth seemed to open slightly, and he took in an almost uncertain breath.

"This just like... like at the tomb. Sending the Pharoah..."

He sounded almost anxious.

Sending the Pharoah? My brows slanted, a frown on my face. I shoved my glasses up my nose, bemusement bubbling up. Pharoah... I remember Yugi mentioning him during matches. I always assumed it was a bit, like Espa Roba's ESP and that whole Heart of the Cards thing.

Kaiba's ears must've been burning because his sharp eyes darted towards Yugi's look-alike and hardened. He could not move from his place, of course. The game was now in play. He began with three cards, activating his peak performance.

"I set a card in the spell/trap zone, and set Kidmodo dragon in defen- no!"

Rather than aligning to his command, the card flickered and appeared in attack position. He hissed in fury, while the Vagabond merely placed a card in his trap/spell zone. Kaiba drew another card, his mouth twisting.

"I put Kidmodo dragon into defense mode," he barked. His command obeyed, he folded his arms, his eyes burning.

The Vagabond did nothing, his face distorting and melting like a weird Picasso/Dali painting.

Kaiba drew another card. My eyes caught sight of Bonz drifting from the group, his pinched shoulders drawn high while his head was low.

I turned back to the show, watching Bonz from my peripheral vision. Kaiba drew.

"I place my Kidmodo dragon into attack position," he said, "and attack your life points directly!"

The Vagabond did not seem phased. His head tilted up after a few measly life points deducted.

"Enjoy... this. I place Cyber Petit Angel in attack position and add Cyber Angel Idaten to my hand. I play Sprite's blessing and summon Idaten in defense position." He paused, "I activate Cyber Angel Benten in my graveyard, chaining on my ritual summon."

"Ha! I activate enemy controller. I trade in my Kidmodo dragon to take control of your Idaten."

The Vagabond clearly had no fucks to give, adding Cyber Angel Dakini and Machine Angel Absolute Ritual to his hand.

"I activate my kidmodo dragon's special effect, allowing me to special summon my-"

A loud stage whisper of both Boxer and Manda sounded, imitating Kaiba to perfection in tone and pitch, "Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

Kaiba glared at them, finishing the sentence with grave displeasure. His dragon screamed from the sky as it raced down to the earth, spreading its wings into a deafening roar.

Manda stuck her little finger into her ear with a wince, "tinnitus much?"

Bonz was absolutely out of sight now. Unsettled, I folded my arms and gazed at the duel. The Vagabond activated Machine Angel Absolute Ritual Dakini in defense, activating it to send Idaten to the graveyard, which adds Idaten back to his hand. He (finally) ended his turn.

"If you think you can defeat me, you're wrong," Kaiba growled. He drew and set a card. The Vagabond, looking like a wax model to close to a hot flame, set a card in the spell/trap zone.

Kaiba drew a card and flipped up Tyrant's Wing and bonding them both to the Blue-Eyes, bringing its attack-power to 3600. With its grand attack, it crunched the Vagabond's LP to 100.

"We're very close now," Kaiba promised the Vagabond, a wicked gleam in his eye. The Vagabond set a card in defense position, his mouth downturned.

Kaiba drew a card and attacked the facedown (revealed to be Sonic Bird) with the Blue-Eyes.

"It's like watching tennis," Manda chuckled, "like that scene in Death Note where the tennis balls are just zooming around like crazy."

Tyrant's Wing finally broke, but Kaiba activated his facedown, Metalmorph, bringing him to 3500 attack-points.

"Nice," Boxer muttered.

The Vagabond set a monster.

Kaiba drew and set a card in his spell/trap zone. His eyes were gleaming now, his mouth twisted into a smirk. Manda was practically melting watching him, while Rabbit had a blush that never seemed to fade. I caught Bonz appearing from the mouth of the alley, shoulders still up, his hand gripping a metallic, gleaming object. He seemed to stalk all the way around until he was near the Vagabond, sharp eyes appraising.

"Here we go," Kaiba said, a boast already entering his voice as he commanded his Blue-Eyes to hit Vagabond's face down, destroying Ninja of A Thousand Arms. Rolling his shoulders, Kaiba gave a dramatic sigh, "I've completed yet another flawless turn."

The Vagabond tried to activate Machine Angel Ritual, but Kaiba was quick to flip up a facedown card; Magic Jammer. He sacrificed a card and negated Machine Angel Ritual.

"Now, my Blue-Eyes White Dragon, White Lightning attack!"

The Vagabond's LP reeled, spinning 3400 points of overkill damage.

The duel ended, leaving the two panting, Kaiba ripe with excitement (and dare I say somewhat overly-excited... *cough, cough*).

"Make good on your promise," Kaiba demanded.

The Vagabond said nothing. He didn't even move. There was a sudden flurry of movement, and a golden point came shooting through the front of the Vagabond's chest, shining with ruby red droplets of blood. His mouth opened then, a stream of blood coming from within. He exploded into blue pieces, shattering into nothing. Bonz stood in his place, his hands twisted around the blood-stained gold.

An uproar echoed from the crowd, including a variety of swearing. Kaiba strode forward, standing in front of Bonz, his height dwarfing the smaller boy.

"You'd better hope you didn't ruin this for everybody," he said, looking down at him with a sneer.

Without warning, Bonz outright went for him, his fists cracking as they hit Kaiba's chest. Kaiba staggered back, a snarl on his face.

"Stop it," Rabbit squealed, while Manda shot towards the duo, sliding between them and shoving them apart.

"Pack it in," she seethed, her accent raging out of control, words tripping against one another in her haste. Bonz was still struggling to go for Kaiba, despite Manda being in the way.

"Hey!" Boxer shouted, the next person to get between the crowd, hoisting Bonz's wiry body back from the two.

"Yugi's in trouble, you can do this shit later!" Manda shouted. For a small little thing (probably the smallest here) she was certainly loud. She puffed out her cheeks and drew her face into a scowl, yanking at Kaiba's arm and dragging him away from Bonz.

"Sit here and shut up," she commanded, pointing a finger at him. She strode away from him, nearing Yugi. The two were in the thick of a duel yet and there was a growing tension so thick it seemed to smother the air. Yugi seemed to be anxious almost, his hand running through his thick hair, while his counterpart simply smirked.

I approached the group, merging in easily to the newly formed crowd. Kaiba seemed to shake himself off and get up abruptly, his lean legs stepping easily towards the group. He kind of walks like a woman in a club, I thought, hips swaying, legs striking the ground.

"Yugi," the brunette snarked, "hurry up and get this over with."

The number of distasteful looks he got for that was immense, not to mention the quite-gentle elbow Manda gave him before she mumbled, "is your chest okay?"

His face scrunched up when she lightly brushed her hand over it.

"No then," she muttered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Rather surprisingly, Kaiba didn't bite her head off for touching him.

I turned my attention to the duel before me, only to find my eyes guilty of slipping back. They would make a fairly decent couple really. She bites his head off just as well as he bites hers. I paused. I really hope that wasn't an accidental innuendo. I shook my head, clearing the thoughts away.

Their life points both seemed to be trickling down at a steady rate.

"You won't win," Yugi said, his dark eyes glistening.

His copy gave a wide smirk, "we'll see."

Two Dark Magicians stared one another down on the battlefield. On Yugi's side, the Dark Magician Girl stood, her face expressing great pity and sadness. So many shadows everywhere. It was hard to see, hard to breathe. The world seemed to flip on its side as Yugi, our Yugi, face distraught, finally pushed his counterpart over the edge, rushing his points down to 0.

"I'm sorry," Yugi said, blinking back tears. His legs shaking, he all but sank to his knees, "I didn't want to do this... Atem."

Kaiba shook his head and sneered, "must have been a low-level version. You beat him way too easily."

"Kaiba, shut up," Manda said sharply. She whirled around on her foot and kneeled beside Yugi.

"Hey," she said, very softly, "come on, Yugi..."

His shoulders juddered and he nearly sobbed. She placed a hand gently on his shoulders, tracing soothing patterns on it, and pulled him into a light hug, "you've got someone waiting at home for you..."

* * *

 **AN:/ I don't personally think any of them would get over Atem leaving entirely, even though they knew it was the right choice, and I felt it important to put it in here somewhere.**

 **Please R &R. **


	16. Yugi 2

**An extra long chapter for you (just over 1,000 words to be exact) so I hope you enjoy all the stuff going on haha. As usual, I own nothing, nothing, nothing except for Rabbit. Please R and R!**

* * *

 **Yugi**

They cannot understand what is going through my head. None of them. Even Manda, with her hand on my shoulder, sweet as she is, could not hope to. Kaiba flat out refuses to understand, but that's familiar, that's comforting in a sad, tormented way. They look at me, and I think maybe there's a deal of judgment in their eyes. I wonder what is going through their minds, probably a little cesspool of questions; _why was he crying? What's wrong with him?_

 _The Yami meets me at the illuminated ground, pushing me back away from my friends. Their faces were twisted towards Kaiba, faces ripe with fear and bodies almost trembling with adrenaline. If Kaiba lost here, we all might as well have. This was something I had hoped would not happen, but fate was not on my side. Five cards to my palm. Five cards that could save me or..._

I bit my lower lip, hands coiling into anxious fists. There are two tones those questions could be spoken in, and I see the variation in how they look at me. Just like at school when I'd go from one class to the next, I followed the group with restless abandon, feet pacing but mind far, far away. My mind felt so empty these days... I'd reach out to find nothing, not even echoes of where the Pharoah had rested like a proud feline, all dangling limbs and proud, cocky tail twitching and eyes burning. I wanted to give a laugh at the mental image that conjured, in a sad, broken way. God, I missed him. The silence is too much sometimes, the lack of answers disconcerting.

I was not ready to face the Yami Kaiba had presented. It was the face of Atem at the beginning before we had changed and eased personalities into one another. It was the insane, cracked version I had at first feared and... apparently, still feared. It was different in the 2-D laptop and phone Duel Links, where it was just an image and a character I could choose not to touch.

 _His eyes, wide and gleaming, his mouth, split into a jagged grin. His fingers danced along the edges of his cards, choosing. I think I knew what was coming before he even summoned it, and the purple summoning circle on the ground only confirmed it. On my side of the field, the Dark Magician Girl stood, waiting for her companion to join her from my hand. When he appeared on the opposite side she blinked, gripped her wand a little tighter. Had she been programmed to do that? Must have been. I activated Sage's Stone and special summoned my own Dark Magician. The next turn, I knew that he would destroy my Dark Magician Girl. I turned her into defense to protect my LP and then..._

A crackling noise broke into my fatigued state, almost startling me. I looked towards Kaiba to find him with his arm raised, a small holographic image of the, ah, other Joey. I shook my head, grimacing.

"Oh good, we got through," he breathed, sounding absolutely relieved, "Mokuba's nearly gotten an exit sorted, but the door won't last long. He'll make it a physical manifestation. He said it will only allow so many people through it because the Hacker has put a data lock on it; it will only allow three people through per door. he doesn't know how long it will take to get another one open again."

Kaiba nodded briskly, "how long until he gets it open?"

"He's going to open it inside your room, at the arena."

His head inclined. My eyes skimmed the group, taking in fearful expressions.

"The arena," Cuber repeated. His eyes flicked down to his leg and he chewed the inside of his lip.

"It's not exactly safe there," Rabbit said, clinging to Gar, who seemed a little uncomfortable with how tightly the young girl was pressed against him, the soft squishy lines of her body melting against his.

"It's not exactly safe anywhere," Kaiba snapped at her. He'd already begun to make a beeline towards the Arena.

"Only three of us can leave," Manda said thoughtfully, tucking her hair behind her ear, "so who is going to leave?"

"I don't want to," Cuber said slowly.

Rabbit winced as though she'd been called out in front of the class to give an answer she didn't know and shook her head, "nor I. I couldn't leave everyone like this."

"We'll decide when we get there," I said heavily, "we have to get there before anything."

There was a low rumble of mutual agreement, and slowly, the herd began to move towards the destination. Once again, my thoughts shifted, coiling back away from the light; _Our Dark Magicians are equal. Even as he attacked the Dark Magician Girl and she shattered, her mouth falling open into a forlorn gasp, then my Dark Magician was left alone. Not that he could do anything anyway... he only had Dark Magician on the field, only had one attack to give. My eyes closed for a moment and I took in a sharp breath, drawing a card._

I swallowed slightly. Just thinking about it was fraying my nerves.

"I hate how quiet it is here," Manda said suddenly, "there's not really any noise at all now the breeze has settled. Just footsteps echoing around. It's putting me on edge."

"I think I liked it better when I knew where the AIs were," Bonz said, "at least then you know how to tread, how to respond. It's too uncertain. I don't like it."

I ran my hand through my hair, giving a low sigh. The bangs tickled my skin lightly, making me feel a niggly little itch.

"This endless night is driving me insane," Rabbit confided in a low, hushed voice, "I'm used to walking my dog in the dark, but this is so consistent. I don't know how long we've been in here, but it's like being locked in a cupboard, contorted into weird angles."

"It would be super great if you nerds would shut up," Kaiba grouched.

"It would be simply fabulous if you could pull that stick from your ass, but I think we'll just have to put up with it," Manda sighed, sticking her tongue out at him. She reminded me of Joey, always ready to rebuff any comment as long as it would get a rise out of Kaiba. They had a similar chemistry, though her less-than-violent responses probably meant that it wasn't as turbulent. The corner of my mouth lifted. Perhaps Kaiba would manage to get something other a lawsuit out of all this.

Eater, standing at the edge of the group, wore a large smirk that suggested he'd definitely been amused by Manda. He gave a bubbly chuckle and eroded his way into the conversation.

 _I felt myself breaking apart, but just as I fought that final duel so long ago, desperate to send the Pharoah to where he belonged, I fought. I set my last few cards in order and prayed, prayed deep inside for it to work._

"Come on Manda, let the guy enjoy having a stick up his ass."

Snickers abounded in the air around us, echoing.

"Shut up," Kaiba barked.

"Uh, you _do_ realise we aren't your little bitches, right?" Manda said. As she spoke, her tone altered, changing from a sarcastic joke to an almost hysterical tone, "you say jump, we aren't gonna say how high, we're gonna work on tearing you a new one for being an asshole, particularly the asshole that managed to fuck everything up so spectacularly that people might actually die, but hey, please, keep telling us to shut up, you're _really_ helping the situation."

She gave him a sarcastic thumbs up, her hand trembling.

My eyes practically swerved to Kaiba, taking in his expression. Kaiba was usually a mirror, prepped and ready to bounce back a nasty retort. Today was different. Today he was being played, a puppeteer above him, his strings growing taunt as his stress levels rocketed and he grew unhinged.

I stepped towards the small female, casting out a hand to land on her shoulder.

"Kaiba," I said firmly, "cal-"

"Do not tell me to calm down, Yugi!" Kaiba almost bellowed. His voice echoed into the void around us, bouncing further away until it fell silent. The group seemed to take in a hushed, worried breath as one, eyes on Kaiba, dark and tense. He ran his hand through his hair, his hand shaking. He seemed to be forcibly calming himself down, his chest heaving. Manda was taking in some pretty deep breaths herself, her cheeks slowly paling as the blood slowly withdrew.

"I'm sorry," Manda said, her voice just slightly trembling. She wasn't afraid. I could see in her eyes, her expression that she was just adrenaline filled. Who wasn't flushed full of adrenaline right now? Kaiba said nothing to this, his sharp eyes pointedly turned away from her.

I turned ahead, gently nudging her to get her moving again.

 _It was all I could do to stay calm as the cards fell into play, as my spell upped my Dark Magician's attack and punched through the Dark Magician and the Yami's remaining life points, and then all I could see was his eyes, burning, fiery with rage as he burst into nothingness._

It was not long before the large building loomed in front of us, dark and imposing. The front doors hung on their jagged hinges, ripped apart. I could hear something shifting from within... well. Some _thing_ was too vague. There was more than one monster hiding in the building before us.

"Well, the Harpies made it easier to get in," Rabbit mumbled.

"It was already easy to get in," Boxer said, rolling his eyes.

I pushed back a sigh and stepped forward, gesturing for the rest of them to follow me through the doorway. It was like a horror film inside here. The light was painfully sterile and bright, the dark blue furniture smashed around. There were claw marks slashed into the doorway where something had shoved its way through.

"What, other than Harpies, is inside here?" I said, my voice low.

"There's a kind of miniature Blue-Eyes," Cuber muttered, grimacing. His eyes once again flitted down towards his feet. He'd been limping, I realised.

"It bit his leg," Rabbit explained in a soft (well, she probably thought it was soft) whisper, rolling her shoulders apologetically, "it's kind of where stuff started to go wrong."

"It's sure as hell got some teeth on it," Cuber winced. He hesitated and continued, "I think that most of them just kind of sleep until it physically sees you, but then it goes nuts. I mean, only the Harpies and the Blue-Eyes went nuts-"

I inclined my head, "I suppose it's feasible."

Kaiba snorted, "anyway, there a section for PVP and Group PVP. I imagine Mokuba was referring to the group PVP, seeing as there's a considerable amount of us."

"The group PVP Kaiba room," Manda sighed, "with the Kaiba body pillow I'd almost forgotten about."

"What?" Kaiba questioned, confused.

"There's a body pillow with you on it in there," Rabbit said, "Manda really likes it."

Kaiba grunted, "I'm not even going to question it at this point."

"Probably for the best," Garoga said, almost apologetically, "some of these guys can be a little... um, dirty-minded."

"We never got to see the PVP group room thing," Ruin hummed, picking his way around the broken pieces of a sofa.

"Well now's your chance," Boxer said. He shifted the barricade from the door and opened it slowly, peeking inside, "I'm not seeing the mini bewd."

"Mini bewd," Kaiba repeated distastefully.

"Well saying ' _blue-eyes white dragon_ ' all the time is somewhat of a mouthful," Manda said, poking her tongue out once again. A noise from the opposite side of the room had us all freezing. We relaxed after a long, tense pause and continued through into the darkened corridor.

"Maybe the bewd went back in the room," Cuber suggested from beside me.

"Are we deciding who leaves yet?" Manda frowned, "cos I'm not going."

I scanned the group of them uneasily and said the only thing I could think of, "step forward if you want to leave through this first exit."

There wasn't a lot of shuffling. After a moment, Eater stepped forward, "I'll go. I like my ass where it is, not handed to me on a plate."

A young man with long hair stepped forward. While I'd seen him in the group, he hadn't introduced himself to me. He'd been too busy herding the group like cattle.

"Verm," Kaiba said, almost pointedly.

"I'll go with your permission," he said, "with the two of you here, I think I'm just taking up unnecessary room."

Kaiba grunted. The tone revealed him was more than likely agreeing with Verm.

"Final person," I said, glancing over the crowd. The crowd became stoic once again.

Kaiba cracked open his door and stepped inside. The group filled in quickly. Some of the group plonked onto the sofa, pretty chill, while the original group stayed close together, peering under the dark shapes.

"Where's the little bastard?" Rabbit whispered, "my ankles feel entirely too vulnerable."

"What?" Bonz said, looking over at them.

"There's a little blue-eyes running around nipping at people's ankles," Kaiba said, his tone blatantly amused.

"You know, you'll be amused until it gets your leg," Manda scowled.

Bonz snickered, turning back around, though I noticed his eyes were fixed at his ankles until he withdrew them and leaned back, folding his arms over his crossed legs.

Kaiba's armband crackled, and Not-Joey once again popped up.

"Door is opening in five... four... three... two..."

A bright light pierced through the room as an open doorway formed. Through it, we could see many blue lines streaking and flashing. Verm was the first one to leave, with Eater not far behind him.

"Third person, now," I said hastily, gesturing to the door, "someone needs to leave."

"I'm not leaving," Bonz scowled.

Kaiba scanned the group quickly, grabbed an arm at random and tossing them towards the door. Ruin stumbled, spluttering, "I'm not go-"

There was a deep resounding sigh and Cuber stood up, "I really don't want to leave," he stated, "but I don't think there's a real choice."

"Of course there is," Kaiba said smiling, "you can stay here and die or you can leave."

Cube inhaled deeply, looking almost condemned, and gave the group a tight smile.

"Now I just feel bad," Rabbit muttered.

"Bad enough to leave in his place?" Boxer muttered back.

"Afraid not."

Another low sigh and he began to walk with the appearance of a dejected man. Kaiba rolled his eyes and shoved at Ruin, who promptly tumbled forward, his hand through the portal.

His cry of, "that's not _fair,"_ was half lost as he disappeared and the door shut behind him.

There was a pause while everyone gaped at Kaiba.

"What the fuck," Manda spluttered.

"Well that's one way to do it," Boxer commented, his brows slightly raised.

There was the sound of something heavy sliding over the floor. It barely caught my attention, until I turned around to spot a blue flash of scales and hear the high pitched squeal of a man whose leg has just been bitten. Cuber turned from the portal blankly to look at the source of the noise, his mouth twitching when he found Garoga trying to shake the little bewd off his leg.

"Oh Christ," Rabbit cried, surging forward and clamping her hands into the corner of its mouth and trying to yank its jaw open. I hesitated and took a few steps forward. If Joey was here, he'd have been there already regardless of the sharp teeth, yelling gibberish while he tried to do the exact same thing Rabbit was doing. Tristan would have been there too, probably sliding something like a pile into its mouth to distract it.

I glanced around, grabbed the nearest thing (Kaiba's body pillow, incidentally) and ran towards the bewd, shoving the pillow over its eyes. After a moment in the darkness, it let go of Gar's leg (I swear I got a sulky kid vibe from the disappointed little dragon) and he stumbled back, panting and grabbing at his poor leg.

I pressed my body down on top of the dragon, which promptly began to thrash around.

"I summon dues ex machina," Rabbit cried, lunging to add her weight on top of it, "I mean, I summon, uhh, Exploder Dragon!"

The dragon appeared... in miniature form. It huffed, smoke flaring from its nostrils.

"Does every oversized dragon just get small in here?" Rabbit spluttered. Kaiba just grumbled under his breath. I released the bewd and backed off quickly. The moment the bewd attacked the creature, it immediately suffered the consequence.

"Just like everything else that tried to take you down," Gar sighed, "you managed to kick it back. I only wish... you'd managed to do it before it tried to chew my ankle off."

I couldn't help the low chuckle that bubbled from inside of me then. Kaiba snorted, throwing his head back as he did his best to ignore everything that was going on around him.

"I have to say Kaiba, despite this whole fiasco, this world of yours works out rather well."

"Yes," Gar sighed, "because who doesn't love getting maimed?"

* * *

 **And there we go! Please R and R, I hope you enjoyed! :)**


	17. Ruin 2

**Good evening, guys. I'm here with your latest update. It's more filler (duh) but I promise that slowly but surely, we're getting somewhere. I'm trying to keep this story as balanced as I can, with everyone getting 2-3 chapters. Anyway... here you go! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Ruin**

I woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth, the kind that suggests you've had a really heavy sleep and it's about time to brush your teeth. It was not pleasant. My nose twitched. The smell of sweat and hot leather wasn't too sweet either. My heart was calming its rapid beat, descending from the sharp jolt I'd felt as I crashed from the virtual reality into actual reality. There was a rapid bleeping noise and then a noise like a whoosh as the pod unsealed itself. I sucked in the air, tasting first stale sweat and then cool, fresh air.

I sat up and shifted, lifting my legs over the pod's edge and stepping out. My legs weren't too bad, trembling only slightly. I turned. Already out of his pod and stretching his legs, Eater flashed a quick, shit-eating grin, baring his teeth. He looked pretty sweaty himself, and the acidic smell of sweat carried nearly over the room.

I took a delicate sniff towards my armpit, grimacing. I needed a shower. Desperately. The door opened, revealing the smaller Kaiba brother.

"Hi, I'm Mokuba," he greeted, "you probably heard me through my brother's device."

"Yeah, I think so," I said hesitantly.

"Great," the small guy said, flashing a cheeky grin, "then you won't mind coming to have a proper chat about what's going on in there. Talking to Seto can be like pulling teeth sometimes."

"Pulling teeth without the anesthetic," Eater muttered. My lips quirked.

"Yeah, I don't mind."

Eater rolled his shoulders easily, "fine by me, but I hope you have some deodorant handy. It's not exactly well ventilated in there."

Mokuba chortled, "well, to be fair, people aren't exactly meant to stay in the pods longer than two hours or so… I mean, it's been almost…" he checked his watch, "six hours for you guys. Man, I feel sorry for the others to come out, especially if they reek even more than you guys do."

Eater inhaled at his elbow, making a fake appreciate, "mmmm." I guess the joke was a little too sharp for him to handle because he choked on his inhale and spluttered.

"Why does it stink so much after so little time? I stink less after I've rolled out of bed after a night out," he complained.

"Well, the machinery underneath the leather gets pretty hot," Mokuba said, "and it's, y'know, leather. You ever tried sleeping on leather while you're already in a small enclosed environment? It's not a wonderful thing to do. Other than that, the pod itself lets as little air out as possible so that the gas stays in, so…"

"I wasn't asking for a hundred reasons why I stink, dude," Eater said, stretching out with a grunt, "but I do need to ask where the toilet is. I need a piss."

I half wanted to cover my eyes and groan.

"Oh, right," Mokuba said hastily, "uh, come this way."

We followed him through the doorway and down a corridor. A few corridors later and we found ourselves outside twin wooden doors, Men and Ladies printed onto plaques.

I pushed my way into the Men's room and took care of stuff, carefully averting my gaze from Eater, who was had casually taken the end urinal and, from the sounds of it, was unzipping his pants. That was something I did not want to see. That was something I really did not want to see, and yet… my eyes, drawn by a horrifying magnet, very nearly caught sight. I coughed and drew my eyes forward as abruptly as I could until the sound of liquid spraying the urinal ceased and the zipping noise sounded once again. At the opposite end, I zipped up my jeans abruptly as Eater's eyes seemed to turn onto me. I practically raced to the taps to scrub my hands clean. Sadly, there was no bleach available to splash into my eyes.

I exited and shoved my hands in my pockets.

"So, where's that Verm guy?" I asked.  
"Won't be much longer," Mokuba shrugged, "he's gonna type up a quick report, submit it, and take a well-earned shower."

Eater appeared from the bathroom, whistling, "Right, where to?"

Mokuba gestured ahead and we followed him. Outside, the fresh air licked at my skin, so delicious and real I could have basked in it for hours. My skin prickled from the chill, my lips chapped and dry. I ran my tongue over them. Relief seemed to emanate from inside my chest like a terse pressure released.

"There's an office my brother uses by one of the arenas. There's actually a shower in his bathroom, so you guys can talk to me one on one while the other takes a shower."

My stomach growled bitterly.

Mokuba blinked, "and I can order some food up."

"Great," I said, running a hand over my stomach, "Duel Links really worked up an appetite."

It wasn't long before we were up into a clean, tidy office with a large window overlooking a dueling arena. I gazed out of it, cheek pressed against the cool glass. Though it has been an utter relief leaving the Duel Links reality, I was beginning to feel strangely paranoid, like someone was going to spring through the door with a weapon and come at me swinging. I couldn't seem to shake it. I turned back to Mokuba, who was sitting in his brother's chair, a clipboard on his deck and a small laptop open beside it.

"Do you have no idea who is responsible for this, then?" I asked, adjusting my glasses.

Mokuba hesitated, "unfortunately I can't say we do. I've been able to tinker around with the backdoor, but I can't track who did it."

I frowned, "shouldn't that in itself give you a hint? I mean, you've gotta have a lot of money to be able to afford the kind of hacking tech that gets you right up into Kaiba Corp's business."

"The company has a lot of enemies," Mokuba said solemnly, "and many of them have a lot of money. You are correct in that we have a list of the richest, but we need to cut them down and figure out who is responsible. We don't know if it's even a company. It might be a rich individual with a grudge for all we know."

"Whoever it is," I said, "has to be smarter than the average person, but… there has to be a clue somewhere."

"Mmm," the younger Kaiba brother agreed, brushing his hair back. He leaned forward, shoulders hunched, and began to type rapidly. He started shooting questions off, while he did, asking about what happened. I described everything as best as I could.

"I can't imagine you'll get much more from Eater," I said once Mokuba lapsed into silence. He hummed in response. There was a knock on the door and a man shifting several pizza boxes in his arms entered. Not long after, Eater reappeared, wearing clothes that most certainly didn't belong to him. The dark blue shirt was long enough to hit his thigh and his pants were rolled up.

"They're my brothers,"Mokuba said almost guiltily, "there's another spare set waiting for you, after your shower."

"Thanks," I said, "but my hotel isn't far from here. I might just go back there, take a shower and dress in my own clothes."

Once again, Mokuba seemed to hesitate, "I know this may seem… unorthodox, but I'd like you guys to stay in the vicinity."

Eater frowned, "why?"

I chewed my lower lip, adjusting my glasses once again, "that suggests that you think that we're involved somehow."

"Not exactly," the younger male sighed, "but we want to make sure all of the nanotech has left the body before we go. They're designed to disintegrate over time, but because they were our-"

"I'm pretty sure there's some truth mixed in with that bullshit," Eater said suddenly, "but I'm also pretty sure that you want to keep everyone close until the case is closed. We are… what, suspects? Part of a grand scheme somehow to smear your brothers face into the ground?"

He paused, a wide grin splitting his features, "as tempting as it sounds, I don't think I'd need the backlash. Tell me… does he have a red room? No, wait- I bet it's blue, to suit all his dragon-y needs."

I winced. Seriously. Was that seriously a fifty shades of grey reference. I shook my head, inhaling warily.

"Well, if we have to stay here, I'm gonna go grab a shower."

"Next door but one," Mokuba said, "to the left."

I nodded and left. The bathroom was nice. Simple, but nice. Little bathmat, a few towels, a hanger on the door with a fresh shirt and pants hung in a protective sheet of plastic. Best of all, there was a lock on the bathroom door. Feeling thankful, I slid the bolt aside. I gazed at the white shirt, wondering if it'd fit. I'd have to wear them after my shower, so hopefully, they would. I sniffed at my clothes and recoiled almost immediately, stripping off in record time. I set my glasses by the sink and stepped blearily towards the shower.

I stepped inside, slid the door across and turned it on. A hot spray of water shot out. I angled the head to my height and closed my eyes, letting my tense shoulders relax. I avoided the sponge like the plague, suspicious that Eater had used it and probably not just to scrub his pits. I shuddered. Which would be worse? Seto Kaiba using it to scrub less than pleasant places, or Eater using it after him? Sharing in this case, could not be caring. I borrowed the shampoo, working my hair into a lather of bubbles that smelled like tangy orange. Surely the Seto Kaiba did not smell like tangy orange. The musky scent of a wolf, maybe, or the cologne of masculinity but not tangy orange. The water swirled down to the drain, pouring over my skin wonderfully. Finally, I turned it off. The mist in the closed shower dissipated as soon as I opened the door and stepped out. I dried myself off and tried on the shirt. It was a little tight but just fit. I shimmied my way into the pants, adjusting the ends and rolling them up. My hair dribbled water down onto the shirt, making it damp. I shoved the towel on top and dried it vigorously.

Finished, I hung the towel on the radiator and unlocked the door. I knocked on the office door before stepping in. Mokuba turned towards me, nose inhaling subtly in relief.

"You do smell better," he said agreeably.

I nodded, "how's it going with Eater?"

"He's managed to avoid saying ' eater' the entire time," Eater said cheerfully, "I think he doesn't appreciate the jokes I worked in."

My nose wrinkled and I muttered, "right. Couldn't he have used your normal name?"

Mokuba sighed heavily, "let's leave this conversation here, guys."

"So what's next on the agenda?" Eater said, standing and slinging an arm over my shoulder. He leaned in and sniffed my hair exaggeratedly.

"Mmm, orange. Did you use the sponge?"

"No."

"Good, good."

Mokuba's face scrunched and he scribbled a quick note down, slapping it on the desk. I squinted and caught sight of it: _Burn sponge in Seto's bathroom_. My mouth twitched.

"We're going to see Mouad, or as you know him, 'Joey Wiener'."

"Oh him," Eater said cheerfully.

"Yep. We'll see what's currently happening inside."

"I thought you'd be doing more than just making notes," I said.

"Well, I was originally, but I knew if I didn't get the interviews directly from you, Seto would be mad."

"Ah, ever the little brother," Eater sighed dramatically, "does he bring you hot chocolate in the night, covered in whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles to make up for all his grumpy bullshit?"

"Um… no?"

"Well, he should," Eater said, patting Mokuba's head.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please R and R. :)**


	18. Kaiba 2

**Hello, sorry for the delay! I hope you like this new chapter and pardon the occasional -cough- bad jokes I slipped in there. As usual, I do not own Duel Links, the Yugioh characters of the people I have nabbed (with permission) from the Tristan Discord.**

* * *

The curly haired boy shrieked, voice rising to a pitch that defied most males, let alone females. His friends were scrambling towards him, hauling the dragon away, prying fingers into the hinge of its jaw, fingers scrabbling to find purchase and pull its mouth apart. His leg was bleeding, the scarlet smearing the metal-like skin of the small Blue-Eyes. Blue and red. I sneered. Two colours on an opposite palette. Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes. Of all the times to think of Joey Wheeler.

The Rabbit girl was quick to summon Exploder Dragon and set it upon the Blue-Eyes. The small dragon was of course too weak to survive the Blue-Eye's awesome power, but unfortunately, Exploder Dragon has quite the effect. The dragons both destroyed, the young man was hoisted to the sofa by his friends. There was a lot of muttering and soothing words while there was a ripping noise and Manda's replica coat very unwillingly tore apart. She wound the white fabric around his leg, tying it tightly. The red immediately came through, spotting the material.

Manda stood back, surveying her work, "it's a good thing this isn't the real thing. This coat was expensive as fuck to make."

Garoga gave a low groan, face scrunching up. Cuber gave his shoulder an awkward pat, muttering, "I know the feeling, mate."

"Don't worry about it," he wheezed, "I'll be fine."

Yugi sat on the sofa beside him, crossing his legs and folding his arms. He appeared deeply contemplative.

"Where are we going now?" Manda asked, looking up at me. Her dark brown eyes were glossy and rich in the light, warm and unwavering. At this moment she almost reminded me of Mokuba. Quiet but steady. I inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"For now, we are staying here."

"Are you thinking that Mokuba might find it easier to open a door where he already has?" Manda wondered.

I snorted, "you nerds are giving me a headache."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Manda stick her tongue out in my direction, eyes squinting. I scowled. The dumb girl wasn't even phased. I could have her social standing sliced down in minutes, her job prospects vanished to dust. Had she even considered that?

Of course, in all likelihood, I wouldn't do that, but all the same. She should be aware that it could happen.

The young male's cries had slowly turned into low grumbles and heavy breathing. Rabbit crouched on the sofa, her head resting upon his. Her hair spilled over his, a rich mixture of dark red and almost pinkish tones that mingled into his curls. Her round cheek smushed onto the top of his head. She nestled against him. I caught her mouth press against the crown of his head and she stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"I'm fine," he mumbled. She hummed back at him, staying exactly where she was.

"How sweet," I sneered.

She pushed her glasses up her nose with her middle finger extended, exhaling. Her blue eyes were dark, tired. Her body, which had straightened up slightly since my comment, relaxed back into the boys. Too tired to be aggressive back, I suppose.

"Come on guys, you don't have to-"

"Uh huh," Manda said, blatantly ignoring his comments.

Manda ran her fingers through the blonde's hair, curls snagging on her fingers. I admit freely, it's an unusual feeling to have fangirls flocking towards someone else. The majority of those harpies just want money or to drool over me like I'm a treat, but something about this whole situation doesn't sit right with me.

I watched them with narrowed eyes, forcible unclenching my jaw. Manda reached over and pressed her cheek against the boys, the edge of her breast skimming his shoulder. My teeth clenched. There were a dozen eyes on the trio right now and most of them seemed as uncomfortable as I felt.

"Is this really the time?" I barked, "to sit here, preening over each other?"

Manda raised a brow, "I'm sorry, should we not be comforting an injured guy?"

"I'm fine," Gar protested.

The little Rabbit said nothing, simple winding her fingers into his hair. Gar swallowed, eyes darting between the two females.

"It's okay," he tried to reassure them, "it doesn't hurt as much now, it's settling down."

"Bah," Manda spat, rolling her eyes, "don't let mister sour puss put you off from a bit of comforting. We're not doing anything we don't do with close friends when they're hurt."

Rabbit nodded, "unless they're against it," she looked at me and sank her oversized front teeth into her lip, "like you."

I hissed lowly under my breath, gritting my teeth.

"Let me guess. You're one of those, 'friendship is magic!' girls. Like his one," I jerked my head towards Yugi, "and you'll never shut up about the power of friendship or whatever."

Manda shook her head, "I can appreciate friendship, but that's about it." She blew a strand of hair from her face, "now stop being such a baby and get over yourself."

"What do we do now?" Cuber said finally. He'd retreated to the other end of the room was leisurely pacing, his arms crossed.

"Wait," I said, very slowly, very clearly, so he couldn't possibly confuse the one little word that seemed to give everyone so much trouble.

The room fell into a charged quiet that felt almost electric with chemistry. I could feel at least three gazes staring at me, while every other face seemed turned deliberately away.

The crackling of my armband had every gaze shooting up hopefully towards me.

"Hello," a low, toneless voice said. The audio was almost corrupted until the true voice could no longer be perceived.

"I hope you don't mind my … interruption."

"Who is this?" I barked.

"You'll know soon enough. I wanted to give you your next location. You see, it's going to get boring if you just stay where you are. I figure… if I introduce a reward for moving around, then you'll be more willing. So we can get rid of another group soon."

"What do you mean by that?" Cuber asked solemnly, "because once we leave here, a dozen more people will start chasing us. You just want to cut our chances of survival down."

There was a slight hum of approval, "smart boy. It's true it potentially cuts down your group either way, however. Alive or dead, it's still a chance to leave, isn't it?"

I grit my teeth, almost shaking with rage.

"If you were wondering about Mokuba… he's no longer going to be getting into the mainframe."

The realisation hit me so hard my stomach hard.

"You let him in from the beginning, didn't you!" I snarled.

"Yes. And you came traipsing in so easily, lining up your pawns in a row… how could I not take advantage of this?"

"Why would you want to kill us?" Manda said, approaching me. Her small height barely graced my chest as she leaned into my armband to make sure they could hear her.

"It is simply a happy coincidence that I will be able to take down the corporation along with Kaiba."

"Asshole," Manda bit out. She grabbed at my arm, fingers squeezing, digging into the metallic construction, her eyes burning as she stared down at it.

"Go to the clothing shop," the voice said, "I'm sure since you ruined that coat of yours, you'd like the chance of a replacement."

The little machination shut itself off abruptly. Manda shook her head, her teeth bared and gritted and the gleam of a tear in the corner of her eye, "asshole."

She shuddered deeply and released my arm, running her fingers back through her hair. Rabbit stood and encased her in a quick, tight hug, her head resting on the other girl's shoulder.

After a moment, Manda moved brusquely, smoothing down her coat with trembling hands.

"Come on then," she said, swallowing thickly, "we should go."

"Yes," Yugi said slowly, "I can see no other choice."

There was a short grunt of agreement from the corner that Bones had taken residence in. He made his way to the door and peered through the crack.

"Are you coming?" he asked, turning to face the others, "it's clear for the moment."

"I don't know about you," Rabbit muttered, helping Garoga move up, "but I'm pretty tempted to summon my Exploder Dragon and fly over there."

"There are plenty of nasty, flying things out there," Gar pointed out, "you wouldn't want to get hit, especially in the sky. Then you have the fall to deal with, not to mention, if you don't get off Exploder Dragon after it's attacked, then it might explode with you on it."

Rabbit grimaced, "I didn't think of that."

My lips lifted at the corners and I scoffed, "of course you didn't. What sad little rabbit takes the time to think about the car that's going to hit it."

Her cheeks, already a flushed red, turned bright red. She took in a deep, shaky inhale and said nothing, her fingers clawing at her wrists anxiously.

"And pack that in," I sneered. Something about little rabbits really makes me want to just click my fingers and make tiny bones go snap. I guess that's the trouble with being a dragon. Anything smaller becomes somewhat insignificant.

"Excuse me, Twatzoid," Manda said cheerfully, "you know this place isn't real so we can't sue you for getting hurt as such in here?"

I turned to face her smugly, "yes."

My face was stinging before I'd even realised what had happened. Dazed, I raised a hand to my cheek, very aware of the pain in it.

"If you be a dick, you gon' get hit," Manda informed him.

She slapped me. That little bitch slapped me. My jaw seemed to hang open in shock.

She turned on her heel and stomped off after Bones, Rabbit and Gar scrambling in their wake.

"Hey, so you know how you spent a lot of time helping me up when my shoulder was really bad?" I heard Rabbit say as the four of them disappeared down the corridor, "I think it's your turn to lean on me."

"I'll help," Bones muttered.

Yugi gave me a half-pitying, half I-told-you-so look that made me want to throttle him. The rest of the room emptied out, leaving us behind.

"I guess we should go," Yugi said finally.

"Hn."

I brushed my hand over my cheek, feeling the subtle burn. I haven't been hit in a very long time. In equal turns, I was furious and shocked.

"I hate that we have to keep moving around like this," came a low, female grumble, "I'm so bloody tired."

"I feel ya," a male replied.

We caught up with the group easily.

"So, aren't we going to plan a route?" Boxer muttered, "I mean, there are a lot of us. We'll get caught if we're all together."

"Oh god, haven't you seen Scooby Doo?" Rabbit said, looking vaguely ill.

Boxer rolled his eyes, "wow, yes. A cartoon. Because Scooby Doo is totally going to save our lives."

I snorted, striding ahead. I simply wasn't going to put up with listening to this sad little banter. The group scuttled along, riding my coattails like little children who don't want to get lost in the supermarket.

"Kaiba," Yugi said, hurrying to keep up, "Boxer's right, we really should make a plan."

"We'll duel if we need to," I said curtly, "I just hope your decks aren't all completely hopeless."

"You're saying we just go," Yugi said hopelessly, "just walk through a field of AIs and hope for the best."

"Yugi. We're more likely to lose these little puppies off their leash. At least if we get caught in a duel, you can do your little friendship speech and help everyone, as usual."

Manda chuckled lightly, "I always did love a good puppy."

"You know what would be cute," Rabbit said thoughtfully, "a ship full of puppies. Only puppies."

"Ah, a glorious puppyship," Manda sighed, "I will ride that ship until it sinks."

I shook my head, scowling, "I don't know what the hell you are talking about, but now would be a great time to be quiet."

Manda turned around, finger against her lips, "shhh, bite me."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please R and R!**


	19. Manda 3

**You may have noticed that in each character has a number beside their chapter. That's because this helps me keep track of how many chapters everyone has and helps me make it fair to everyone involved. Today, we're starting on the third and final stretch. By the time we reach the third chapter for everyone, I think that we will have reached the end of the story (or at least I hope!).**

* * *

 **Manda**

My finger pressed against the swell of Kaiba's mouth, the low murmur escaping my mouth before I'd even realised my tongue was curling to speak. Shit. Now I was half-caught in the moment and half-bricking it about his response _. Sssh_... _Bite me_. I blinked slowly, heart squeezing in my chest, and removed my finger. Had I really said that? Damn. My thoughts spun me back to the warmth on that lingered on my fingertip and a low tremble of delight ran through me deliciously... his mouth was so soft and surprisingly warm. I flashed him a quick smile and turned away. He let out a low growl that made my legs feel suspiciously weak.

Oh _._.. _please,_ bite me. My lips turned up and for a moment I wanted to laugh from pure frustration and slap myself. Bloody hormones.

Kaiba lifted his chin high and glared down at me. If I didn't know him, I might have backed down, but honestly? This is my only window for flirting with him, and boy oh boy am I gonna use it. Even if it, you know, winds up killing me. Which it hopefully shouldn't.

"Still dying over here," Garoga mumbled. I cleared my throat and rolled my shoulders, cheeks heating, pretty sure I could feel Kaiba's cobalt blue eyes burning on the backs of my shoulders.

"Well, you can go home next," I joked, nudging him with my shoulder, "get your Inspector Gadget on and find out who did this shit."

Rabbit helped hoist the unhappy American to his feet.

"Are we seriously just gonna keep going to point A to B?" Boxer scowled. His tone was less than pleasant at this point, his brows gathered together tight-knit and mouth set in a thin line.

"Did you seriously listen to nothing we just said?" Bonz growled, fingers pressing against his head. I swear, if this was an anime, this would be a proper vein throb moment. Or maybe the minute where our anti-hero protagonist stabs the shit out of someone. Christ, I can't even.

"Can we _maybe_ chill the fuck out?" I said, holding my hands up in surrender.

Bones exhaled heavily, his jaw tight, while Boxer folded his arm and sulked. All in all, usual 'manly' bullshit. I cracked my neck and hid a yawn in the collar of my wrecked coat. Thank god the real deal is safe, albeit sweat-stained, and possibly pee stained. I mean...

"Hey Kaiba," I said suddenly, "what happens if people need to pee while they're inside the mechanics.

He scowled, "people are supposed to go the bathroom before they go inside... in this event, I suppose with your consent they may indulge us with catheters. If only to protect the pods. They are rather expensive after all."

I winced, "well, I do feel you on the expensive fabric front."

Like the very expensive silky red interior of this coat...

I sighed wistfully. At some point in the future, I'm really going to have to bribe Kaiba into letting me try on that super awesome coat. We'll say nothing about how he's the 6'1 to my 5' something-or-other and how that coat would probably be dragging on the floor like a bloody ballgown.

At some point, the group had begun to filter out the room. I glanced around and followed, trying to force my mind away from coats and height and the memory of AI Kaiba's chest was like, tantalizingly close to my face.

"So we're moving out despite not even having a pl-" Bones started.

"Shush, the adults understand what's going on so you don't children don't have to."

"Okay, you're asking for a smack in the face with an attitude like that," I said pointedly.

He didn't even bother to look at me this time.

Yugi sighed, "we did something like this before." he admitted, "sometimes it's better to just get on with it."

"At least you lot seem to have decent decks," Cube noted.

Rabbit sucked her cheeks in and chewed on them, "not really," she mumbled.

"I'll rephrase that for you, Cuber," Boxer said, "at least the majority of you seem to have a decent deck."

Once outside, the group evened out, staring out into the darkness. There weren't many out there

"If we can delete a group then we can make sure they don't come back for a while," Boxer said derisively.

Yugi hummed, "I get that it seems like a good idea, but..."

"My deck is pretty slick," Cuber said, "I run Hand of Nephthys."

Kaiba folded his arms, stalking ahead of the crowd. He turned his head to glare at the group.

"Volunteers to duel. Hands up."

Several hands shot up.

"Those who don't volunteer, summon your deck masters."

Indecisive, I furrowed my brow. I'll test the waters first, I think. Suddenly, an idea pinged into my head. The metaphorical light bulb that is my brain lit up and flashed. Now my deck is usually Blue-Eyes based. And yes, there are three, but, but, BUT. You know what Kaiba didn't summon? I all but wriggled in excitement as my hand shot up and I shouted, "I summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

I let out a little gasp (which may have been part arousal, who can tell these days?) as the earth shook and the three-headed dragon approached, swerving from the moon, glistening like it was bathed in water. It hovered above us, wing beats making the air ripple and caress us, slapping my hair into my face.

Kaiba snorted, "what a copycat dweeb."

"Bitch, get on mah blue-eyes white bandwagon," I jeered.

"I think Hitler already did," Rabbit muttered.

There was a stifled moment when everyone kind of stared and said nothing.

"Can we add that to a Cards Against Humanity game, please?" Bones said, his lip quirking.

"I'm not sure whether to find that funny or really, really disturbing," Garoga said, wincing.

Rabbit rolled her shoulders and said apologetically, "I have very bad humour. Anyway... I summon Exploder Dragon."

A large symbol face down card appeared on the ground. It flipped over abruptly and the sound of powerful wingbeats sounded as the Exploder Dragon appeared, not with a bang or a loud flash but with a slither of darkness. Stealth is its weapon, I guess... Claws scraped against the ground as it landed beside Rabbit, grasping around a dark, metallic sphere with spikes jutting from it.

She turned to it, swallowing thickly. Its head hung low, reptilian eyes staring at her, its iris a heated red. I had the advantage of knowing about the Blue-Eyes, of knowing the cards strong connection to Kaiba. The dragon was almost unfamiliar to me. Yes, I'd seen it take on the mini-bewd earlier, but all the same... it's like introducing a new personality and hoping it meshes. I shook my head woodenly and blinked rapidly. I was getting so damn _tired._ I felt like sobbing, but I knew, just like everyone else here knew (or hopefully did) that all we can do it get on with it.

The dragon crouched and Rabbit did something slipped around the dragon, which is practically the size of a rather large BMW, running her hand along its thick hide. She threw her arms over its back and pressed her chest against the scaly creature's rib, her eyes closing in an almost drowsy fashion.

"Stay close to him," Kaiba ordered starchly.

I tilted my head back to look at the gleaming blue dragon. She'd crouched on the buildings, her tail coiled tersely as she stared down at us, three separate heads staring with serene intensity down at us.

"I'm sure they'll help from above," I said, blinking owlishly.

"I'm sure they will," Yugi said. He was looking up at the Blue-Eyes with profound respect in his eyes, sending her a soft smile.

"Come on, Yugi," I grinned, "you're only supposed to look like that at your Dark Magician Girl."

"Oh? Not my wife?" He smiled and shook his head. Finally, the group began to move. It's not far from the PvP Arena to the shop. I was half-expecting nothing to happen, to have a small reprieve from all the bullshit. The lack of AI'S outside of the arena was very suspicious.

The harsh crunch of high heels hitting the pavement began and a tall, curvaceous body appeared out of blue blocks, fully regenerated. Blonde curls fell down her back and violet eyes wickedly outlined with black lashes and liner glittered. Her mouth, glossy and plump, was pulled into a smile worthy of a prostitute on the hunt.

I winced slightly. Maybe not the best analogy.

"Ooooh," Gar groaned, running a hand through his own thick curls. "I have to say... I'm pretty sure my breasts are better."

I grinned, noticing a lot of twitching lips.

"Excuse me," I said teasingly, "I have the superior tits here."

Gar paused, his eyes staring directly at mine. I could practically see the 'don't-look-down' going through his head. Rabbit held no such shame, peering unabashed.

"Those are... very nice," she said.

Mai, still striding closer, was smirking, "what's nice will be beating the snot out of you little children."

I let out a stunned gasp, "Kaiba... you let children into a violent deathtrap? Shame on you! Ow-" I yipped and scowled, rubbing my ribs. Kaiba sneered down at me, his evident very point elbow poised to give me another shiv.

"Well," Gar said, stepping forward, "Mai Valentine, if you don't get your butt out the way, I'll be very inclined to-"

"Smack it?" I interjected cheerfully, "same!"

Gar flushed pink and spluttered, "N-no! I just mean I'd have to beat her in a duel."

"Yeah, I believe you," I said, still grinning.

"Anyway," Gar said, "to speak of breasts, my coworker was once talking about breasts and saying how her breasts always got in the way when she was busy and how I should understand because I have them, and I just said, 'you're just jealous cos mine are better' and you know Mai? I think that conversation applies right here right now."

The blonde scowled deeply, her face distorting in rage, "my breasts this, my breasts that! You shut your mouth, you filthy little pig!"

"Oh my, I'm so hurt," Gar said, rolling his eyes.

Rabbit looked around, her brow furrowing, and whispered, "can I ask why everyone is slagging off her breasts though? Like, what's wrong with them."

"I concur," Boxer chimed in.

"Well nothing," I whispered back, shrugging "but it tends to rile up a woman to be insulted, and people who are angry tend to make more mistakes."

"Oh," She still looked pretty blank as she contemplated it, chewing at her lip, "couldn't you have slagged off her lack of skill instead?"

"All in good time, Rabbit," I said, nodding and extending a hand to pat her shoulder, "all in good time."

"Will you nerds get on with it then," Kaiba growled, "I have a lot of things to take care of once we get out of here. We've barely made any headway towards the costume shop as it is and I'm not leaving anyone behind to get themselves killed."

I blew a raspberry under my breath, rolling my eyes. Kaiba, hot as he is, is still a mega asshole. A mega asshole prolapsed because it spewed too much crap out of it. The thought made me chuckle.

"Well, good luck Gar!" I said, slapping his arm.

"Yeah... good luck," Rabbit said. A few other voices joined in, wishing him luck.

"Get those harpies good," Bones hissed, "I hate the bony little shits."

"Thanks, guys," Gar said, "now... let's get on with this."

* * *

 **Right, thanks for reading! I know it's been a while but I hope you enjoyed what you read and had a bit of a laugh. This story has never been one to take itself too seriously, after all, and our characters certainly never do. Please review. :)**


	20. Garoga 3

**Hello! This my newest addition to the story. I hope you enjoy it. If you enjoy, please be sure to leave a review for me. :)**

 **Beta'd by Garoga. 3**

* * *

 **Garoga**

My fingertips itched for the thin cards to be spread between my fingers, but instead, the illusion becomes clear. Cards, spreading along the floor because the duel is afoot. The group has allocated themselves to the side-lines, shifting themselves until they had a good view. Bones was slinking, moving along the edge, hands tucked into his pockets, eyes half shut. He looked tired, eyes underscored with heavy purple bruises. I guess the majority of them looked tired or beaten down. My gaze caught Rabbit, sought out the metallic red on her cream sweater.

I remembered her sharp scream as it echoed through the air, her body torn from the ground by huge talons. The Harpies screeching... and then, most satisfactory, my brain refreshed the image of the Millennium rod speared through its belly.

I could feel fury, fresh and burning, coiling up like a cobra ready to strike. I am not angry by nature. I am usually softer than a baby panda chewing bamboo, but just thinking about the blood was making me crazy... this must be bloodlust.

The coin materialized and flipped, tipping in my favour.

My opening hand revealed I scanned the cards carefully. There is no room for failure today.

I had drawn Ancient Gear Fist, two Ancient Gear Drills, and Ancient Gear Beast.

"I activate my skill, Middle Age Mechs. This activates the continuous spell, Ancient Gear Castle," I said, "I end my turn."

"My turn," the vindictive blonde spit, "I summon Clown Zombie in attack position."

"Lovely. I place a counter on my Ancient Gear Castle," I cut in, my arms crossing tightly. My nails dug at my skin as my agitation grew.

"Pah! Attack him directly!"

A brief wave of pain stunned me momentarily. I shuddered, stomach twisting. My life points rolled down as I received 1350 points of damage.

"I end my turn," the blonde purred, lashes fluttering.

"Don't get too smug," I said, "Using Ancient Gear Castle's effect, I tribute the card to summon Ancient Gear Beast."

"Parlour tricks won't get you very far," Mai said lazily, stretching out dramatically. Her bosom stretched the fabric of her clothing, constrained against the fabric wrap. My cheeks flushed.

"You should tell yourself that," I growled, "and I'm not finished! I activate Ancient Gear Drill, which means I can discard a card and set a spell card directly from my deck. Now... I can't use it this turn, that's true, but don't worry... we can focus on that later. For now, I attack with Ancient Gear Beast!"

She received 650 points of damage. She growled, throwing her arm over her face as she grimaced in pain. Her teeth flashed as her lips turned up into a snarl, but not from pain, oh no... from rage. The seductive kind of rage that says _hello sweetheart... I'm going to rip your throat out, is that quite alright? No? Well, I'm afraid it's happening regardless, love._ I could see it in her eyes, burning like amethysts.

"My turn!" She hissed, "I set a card."

I drew a card and took in a deep breath, trying to dispel my anger-induced trembling, "I activate Ancient Gear Drill. Using Advance Force as payment, I'll pull this from my deck and place it down in the spell zone."

I smiled slowly, "and now, miss Valentine, I think I'll take a bash at your facedown... Ancient Gear Beast, attack her face down card!"

The card flipped, revealing Harpie Girl. My lip curled with disgust. The card was destroyed, but her life points were untouched. God, I wanted to tear those stupid numbers down so desperately. I wanted to scream.

She scoffed, a low, heady chuckle pushing through her lips, "pathetic. I set a card in defense mode and end my turn."

"I hope it's another Harpie," I said softly, slowly, "so I can have the pleasure of wiping the floor bloody with it."

I drew my next card, plucking Ancient Gear Engineer, "I activate Ancient Gear Castle and use Ancient Gear Beast to attack your face down."

Another Harpie Girl flipped up and was quickly broken into pieces. Her childish frame did nothing to satisfy me. I was not after the destruction of the chick. I wanted the real deal, the large oversized woman-bird, dead and broken and destroyed, not just once but over and over again. In a way, with Duel Links, it was possible to do so. If I ever played Duel Links at home on my laptop again, I would take great pleasure in smashing the shit out of Mai's poor little deck.

"Oh, look at that," I sighed, "what are the odds."

"Heh," Mai sneered, setting another Monster.

"Could... could it be another Harpie? Oh goodness, I can't stand the suspense. Ha. I place a counter on Ancient Gear Castle."

Through gritted teeth, she ended her turn. I drew a card and smiled at it. Ancient Gear Tank. Now that is a pretty little card. It adds 600 attack points to any Ancient Gear monster and when it's taken to the graveyard it takes it from the opponent's life points.

"I activate Ancient Gear Castles affect- I trust you know it by now- and summon Ancient Gear Engineer. I now activate Ancient Gear Tank and push its power onto my Engineer. Now I'm gonna use Ancient Gear Beast and use it to attack your face down."

The card flipped up, showing Kurama as it burst into shards.

"Of course, we're not done," I said, "Ancient Gear Engineer, attack her life points directly!"

She took 2100 points of damage. She grimaced, clutching at her belly. Her hair hung over her face, her eyes burning.

"I gotta turn this duel around," she whispered.

"No, sweetheart," I said, voice tapered with a false kindness, "what you have to do is die. Oh, and don't think you'll get away with that face down in the spell and trap zone. One of Ancient Gear Engineer's effects is to target one spell or trap card and destroy it. Obviously, I choose the only one you have on the field."

Shadow of Eyes flipped up and exploded instantly. I glared at her life points spitefully. 1250. A small number in the scheme of things.

"I end my turn."

She scanned her cards with panicked eyes.

"If only your Harpies hadn't come after us," I said, "if only they hadn't snatched at Rabbit... but apologies from a computer programme mean nothing to me."

I inhaled slowly, shook my head, "I will kill every Harpie I need to, as long as you are one of them."

She set a monster, her lower lip trembling, "you can't be serious. I can't be defeated by the likes of you, you're just... just..."

"End your turn," I said, "so I can end it all."

She nodded, her nails turned into her palms as she clenched her fists. She said nothing. I took her nod to mean go. I drew another card and summoned it immediately, calling forth Ancient Gear Soldier.

"Ancient Gear Engineer, attack her face down!"

Clown Zombie flipped up and combusted. A smile drew on my lips, distinctly vindictive, "Ancient Gear Beast... devour her!"

I do not think any of us expected the beast to actually burst from its lace on my side of the field and send itself upon her, teeth ripping through muscle and sinew, her body shaken like a doll as it's sharp teeth punctured and crushed and flayed while she screamed, her life points hurtling to 0. The game field rippled and faded, leaving behind a strange echo, a faint image cast in blue of the two crushed into their ferocious embrace which soon disappeared altogether.

"Jesus Christ," Rabbit breathed, her voice nearly breaking on a sob. She was trembling, "I'm sorry, I just... I didn't expect this."

"Me either," I said quietly. Now it was over, I could feel the pain once again, the throbbing in my leg and insane urge to crouch and curl into myself. She swallowed thickly, shaking hand rising to push her glasses up. Her lower lip looked as though she'd chewed it violently during the duel and made a small split in the skin. I could just see a raised welt of blood.

I pulled her forward into my arms, pressing my face into her hair.

"Are you done?" Kaiba said tiredly, words clipped and direct, "can we go?"

"Yes," I said, tangling my hand into her red hair and running my hand through the locks, which were knotted and briny with sweat. She smelled like sweat and faint, worn off deodorant, of copper blood and fabric softener.

"Come on," I murmured, hand circling between her shoulder blades and rubbing her in a way I hoped was reassuring. She wiped her teary eyes and stumbled forward.

"Gotta keep going," she said, nodding.

Manda edged closer to Rabbit, leaning her head against her shoulder, "indeed. We can't die here. Think of all the sexy charac- I mean, sexy people- we haven't had a chance to snuggle with yet."

She snorted, "yeah, can't live without those snuggle bunnies."

Manda turned to face me and dragged me into a hug. My cheeks flushed red, I made an estrangled spluttering noise until she let go.

"Well done," she grinned, "even if the ending was unexpected, you kicked ass."

Underneath all the funny little shenanigans, I felt oddly sick. I'd taken out my anger on the AI, but I hadn't expected the system to spit that visual at me. It made my stomach churn uncomfortably. I tried to focus on the many people around me, set my interest in their different mannerisms and personalities, but all I wanted to sit down and sink into shock for a long time until my brain snapped back into white-hot focus. After all this, I just wanted to put on some mind-numbing TV, sit down with a bag of pretzels and munch. Maybe in this fantasy, there were several other warm bodies in the room with me, munching and chilling out and generally just having the good time this place had stolen from us. Maybe. Maybe I was just a little lonely.

A small hand scrabbled for mine. I let her take it, felt her fingers snake between mine. Her fingers were small, compared to mine. It felt like they should be longer. I could feel her middle two fingers on both hands were oddly crooked, like they'd been shaped to curve together.

"Nearly there," she whispered. At least, she tried to. Her voice was still quite loud despite her attempt. She squeezed my palm.

"Are you going home this time?" She asked, looking up at me. Her eyes were such a dark slate of blue from a distance, that's all they were. Blue slates. I couldn't see the small pattern strange until I was closer to her. I guess that much is true for everyone. Everyone has a hidden pattern somewhere you have to scrutinize to see, and not just... physically, I guess. Somewhere in the mind, there's a pattern of personality, and here I am, wondering. What is hers? What is Seto Kaiba's pattern? What is mine? I squeezed her palm, felt her squeeze back. We were verging on the shopping street and down it, we could see our target.

"I don't know," I said finally.

Yugi glanced at me and gave a hum.

"I guess we should decide who goes home next," Yugi said, as we approached.

"Oh yeah, we may have to smash a window," Boxer said, "as I recall, the door's locked."

So many questions, so many plans. My eyes flicked to Rabbit's small frame.

"Do you want to go home?" I asked her.

She smiled slightly, "not without the rest of them."

* * *

 **Aaaaand Boom! Fresh chapter. Did y'all like the fluff? I know I liked writing it. XD Please R and R!**


	21. NAMELESS 1

**This isn't going to be the longest chapter. This is going to twist** **around into a duel next chapter and I don't want to give too much away. What I do want, is for you guys to guess in the reviews who YOU think the villain is going to be. I already know, but I also know to throw in the odd red herring. ;) So tell me who it is, and I'll see who's thinking what.**

 **As always, I own NOTHING but the plot bunnies and Rabbit herself.**

* * *

don't know why I bothered with the profiles, really. Something to do? An information trove to dredge for anything of interest? Who knows. Truly, what folly. My fingers scraped down the pages, fingering the thin slices. My fingers, calloused from years of typing and paperwork, can resist a papercut, I am sure. Several stolen facebook pictures are included, along with various information, gleaned from several sources. A skinny young man with glasses looks tight-lipped at the camera, a small cat coiled around his shoulder. A curvy woman of short stature beams, holding up a Costa cup, her lips painted dark berry mauve, eyes impressively large. A soft, baby-faced male with an abundance of curls and a very genteel smile, a giant Winnie The Pooh mascot next to him.

I'll get rid of all this later, of course, or maybe I'll hide it in a briefcase somewhere and if someone asks... _well, I was simply curious about who got hurt, of course, so I asked my receptionist to collect the notes. He is my rival, and I like to think we all have a right to know who Kaiba Corp destroyed._

A few of them are already back awake and happy, that's true. But that will not be the story for everyone, oh no. Someone will have to fall. Just one or two little pawns, so I can take the King... I thrum my fingers over my desk, tapping out an impatient rhythm. Once I take out the company, I can run Kaiba under my boot-heels like the worthless little creature he is. This has been a long time coming.

I flipped the pages, catching glimpses, pictures of a brindle Staffy nuzzling a very-obviously-dyed redhead, glasses catching the glare of the camera. A heavy built American with a beard and well kept short hair in another picture, grinning and hugging a sweet-looking lady. His fiancee, if his facebook is up to date. How sweet. I would hope, then, that he comes home next or... well. It would be quite a scandalous incident to create a widow. I could go either way with this.

I opened my laptop, gazing at it thoughtfully. The page was set out neatly, a search bar allocated. All I have to do is to type in someone's name and voila, I see the Duel Links realm from their eyes. A nice little effect... it's just a shame it wasn't something I had thought up, but Kaiba. A way to check for any imbued cheats and enabling KaibaLand the ability to watch great duels from a giant screen. I might have even considered putting the events of all this onto the screen but really, I simply must keep myself in check. I cannot afford to get overzealous.

In the end, while the public may think there is a hacker, they cannot be lead to believe that KaibaCorp tried their hardest to keep them out. Of course, there won't be a real chance of that. Someone did let me into the network, after all, showed me the Duel Links code and let me build my plan from the ground up. If anything they encouraged me to do so. Even though KaibaCorp may survive the initial backlash of a hacker getting inside, will they survive the death of a customer? I hope not. If they do, then I really will have to get superbly nasty with them.

I smiled, raising a wine glass to my lips. A superb, sweet taste drowned my tongue with pleasure. I hummed and set my glass down, returning my attention to the screen. I typed in the Duelist code on top of my paperwork pile, Mason Taddei. The screen opened up a window, showing his visuals.

A broken shop window, dozens of set up costumes. Amanda was busy rifling through several Kaiba-esque coats, plucking out a dark purple variant. She shrugged off her tattered white coat and replaced it, almost purring in delight. Kaiba sneered at her from the side.

"Are we too early or something?" Alexander said, stroking his beard, "seems that someone should be along by now, another test on the ropes and all that."

"Hey, I'm glad we got a little time," Amanda said, grinning, "means I got to play dress up."

"Yes. In my costumes, like the good little fangirl you are."

She stuck her tongue out at him, giving a low hum of discontent. Mason, or Garoga as they were calling him, glanced down. Sitting beside him was Maria, the plush little lady settled with her arms folded and head tucked to her chest. Her face was almost covered with hair.

I rather wish he'd look at something else. Rolling my eyes, I shut down his visuals to open up the coding of my newest addition to the Duel Links controlled unit... the Vagrant. My lips curled as I pushed him through, making him appear in the middle of the shop.

Looking through his eyes, I stretched out my fingers and let them skim flawlessly across the keyboard.

"Hello," the Vagrant, my precocious puppet, said tonelessly, "I have a deck ready for you. I hope you'll find it to your liking."

I smiled, perhaps a _tinge_ smugly.

"Who will face me this time?"

I turned the face of the Vagrant to gaze upon each face, taking in the strained fear engrained on their soft, fleshy faces, the eyes that seemed so dark and dense, like a shadowy pool. The detail really is immense... If I were to zoom in, I could probably see every eyelash, soft and feathery and imperfectly perfect in a strange human way.

The deck I had planned was far from the toughest I had, in terms of dueling, but I was leading up to it.. slowly. I don't want the game to end too soon after all. Yugi seemed to start forward but I made my puppet raise his hand and shake his head.

"Not you," I said.

Like a game of Duck, Duck, Goose, I circled Vagrant's head slowly, staring out each and every one of them.

"Not... you. Not you, you, you..."

I tilted his head, made his warped mouth bubble and melt as I made our decision, "you."

Cuber raised his head and looked at me, dark eyes wet and glistening, "if you like."

"I do."

Cuber gave a tight, quiet smile, his thick eyebrows relaxing. A duel, it seemed, this boy was able to entertain without thinking that he would lose to what I have planned. Nestling back into my chair, the leathery material soft and buttery and luxurious even through my suit, I studied the screen. My fingers darted across the keyboard once again filing in the final changes:

 **DUEL INITIATED**

 **Y/N**

I confirmed my choice and let my nails drag against the armrests. I would not play personally yet, would not confess my strategies (these were good decks, but not mine, no... these were simply good, installed decks for high-level players) for any other duelist to see.

I didn't particularly care if he won or lost, but I knew very well that after the next three left someone would have to die. Whittling the group down and killing one of them off had always been part of the plan, even if it did not sit well in the bottom of my stomach. Rage won. Revenge won. In the end, I _would_ **win.**

My teeth gritted together, a string of saliva hanging from my mouth. I reached into my pocket, received a handkerchief and dashed it away. Anger was a messy thing. I had taken to chewing my cheeks and tongue in my sleep until I woke with the bitter tang of blood in my mouth. Ulcers were growing commonplace from the mess, and my teeth were slowly starting to crack under the pressure. Even now, my mouth ached.

The blackened root of my problem was quite literally Kaiba. Seeing his face made me want to stick it into a bubbling pit of acid and pluck his eyes out with a scalpel. Oh, everything about him made me want to destroy. It's unfortunate that lives must be felled like sacrifices to his feet. A man like him does not deserve the price of life, truly, but... I clicked my tongue, clicked it again when it hurt as if to punish it. He deserved to fall, brutally, horrifically. First in society and then... then, beneath my heels. In the end, it just has to be. It has to. I must crush him and stand atop him. With him as a broken pedestal, I can finally rise and I can finally live with myself.

* * *

 **Boom! There we go. A nice step up towards a (hopefully great) duel. Please R and R, I super appreciate it, and remember... leave your opinions on who it may be in the comments!**


	22. Cuber 3

**This chapter was exhausting to write. I'm not sure why, I think perhaps it's because we've gotten to the thick of the plot. I'm sorry it's late, I've been absolutely knackered. Thank you so much for your review. The usual, 'I own nothing,' applies.**

* * *

 **Cuber**

My opening hand was simple: sphere Kuriboh, Anti-Magic Prism, Elemental HERO Heat, and Hazy Flame Hyppogrif. For now, I do not look at the Vagrant, merely watching his card-zone, watched his shadow stretch along the concrete, flickering. I knew he was supposed to be like the Vagabond, but a more difficult foe, at least in theory.

He summoned Voltic Kong and ended his turn. It had an attack of 1800 compared to its defence of 1000. It was a decent enough card, really, for something that wasn't a ritual summon or something that had to be sacrificed for... I scanned my fresh drawn card, Fire King Avatar Yaksha and hum under my breath as I set Anti Magic prism, summoning Yaksha to the field. Here we were matched in terms of Attack Points.

The Vagrant draws a card, and then tributes Voltic Kong to summon Bitelon. The attack power of Voltic Kong was weak compared to Bitelon, with it's AP measuring at 2400. He pointed at Yaksha and his Bitelon reared up, ready to attack.

Luckily, I had an ace in my deck here.

"Is that a Kuriboh in my deck, or am I happy to see you?" I questioned pleasantly, "I set your Bitelon to defence mode, while my Kuriboh goes to the graveyard."

He ended his turn.

"My turn," I said out loud, clearing my throat to continue, "I summon E-Hero Heat, and attack Bitelon! Sending your friend straight to the graveyard. Now, Yaksha, attack his life points directly, leaving you with 2200 LP. Enjoy it while it lasts. I end my turn," I dismissed.

He draws and sets a monster, gesturing for me to continue. He's probably more amicable than the Vagabond was.

I draw and summon Heavy Knight and attack the set card. I winced as Des Feral Imp appeared, the matching Attack and Defence negating each other. It's effect targets Bitelon from the Grave and shuffles it back into the deck.

"I end my turn."

The Vagrant draws, and then tributes the Imp to set down another card before he ends his turn.

"You're going to die," he said, tone almost helpful, like he'd given me a hint to a crossword puzzle.

I set my jaw and ignore him, moving on to draw Fire King Island and set it in as a field spell. I tribute E-Hero Heat and summon Hazy Flame Hyppogrif. With his Attack Power flowing upwards to 2400, I activate the Beat-down Skill.

"I use Hazy Flame Hyppogrif to attack your face down!"

A crackling pain rippled up my side and I griped at my side, wheezing. The card flipped up, revealing Labyrinth Wall. I took 600 points of damage. The pain eased off slowly, and I stood straight, gritting my teeth as I ended my turn. My life points might have only been 600 points down but... a chink in the armour can lead to so much damage.

I watched him draw a card and set one calmly.

I draw Molten Destruction and activate it, gaining any fire monsters 500 attack, and losing 400 defence before I end my turn.

Once again, my enemy draws and sets a monster and a card before he ends his turn

I draw another Yaksha, activate Beat-down, Hazy Flame Hyppogrif and attack the set monster. The card flips and destroys Mystic Swordsman Lvl 4.

I give the Vagrant a long, steady look, "Yaksha, attack his face down."

Yaksha flips and destroys Baby Dragon. I end my turn.

The Vagrant draws and ends his turn.

I draw another Yaksha and gesture for him to go on.

For the third time, he draws and ends his turn.

I draw and set Anti-Magic Prism, end turn.

For the fourth damn time, he draws and sets a monster before he ends his turn.

I draw and activate Super Rush Headlong (target one of your cards and declare an Attribute, the monster that battles the card you chose with that same attribute as declared is destroyed). I target Yaksha and declare Earth before I activate Beat-down.

Hazy Flame Hyppogrif attacks the Vagrant's set monster, flips and destroys Dragon Knight of Creation. Yaksha attacks Labyrinth Wall and Super Rush Headlong activates, destroying the Labyrinth Wall. Heavy Knight attacks a set monster, flips and destroys Enraged Battle Ox. I end my turn and then the Vagrant repeated his prior actions.

I draw Riryoku and grin widely.

"I activate Beat-down! Now, Hazy Flame Hyppogrif, attack our opponent directly!" I dealt the Vagrant 2900 damage, taking them down to 0 life-points. I win the duel.

"Hey," I said, smiling, "I win."

The card zone closed up, revealing sparse floor and the Vagrant dispersed into cubes.

I looked behind me, scanning the crowd. They wore an array of exhausted expressions, though they also held triumph.

"Well done, mate," Manda smiled.

"Pfft," Kaiba grumbled, "it was hardly a difficult duel."

I recounted the events in my head. Truly, the duel wasn't very hard. It was more tense than anything. He was supposed to be brilliant, wasn't he? Better than the Vagabond? I brushed my side, feeling a phantom ache run through it. A glowing portal warped the room, casting everyone in a blue glow.

"Who's going this time?" Garoga said uncertainly.

"We could draw short straws?" Boxer chuckled.

"We could settle it over a children's card game," Manda joined in,grinning.

"Someone is leaving, now," Kaiba stressed. He threw out his arm randomly, "you and you! Leave!"

Garoga gaped and there was an answering scowl from Boxer.

"I don't think that's fair," Boxer scowled.

"I'm fine with that," Manda cut in, flashing a cheeky grin in his direction. Mostly bravado, I thought. She likely wanted to be here in an attempt to keep the stragglers safe.

Ignoring them, Kaiba scanned the rest of the group, plucking out another person before he pointed at Rabbit. The girl tensed the minute his blue-eyed gaze landed on her. The tendons in her throat tensed as she swallowed.

"I don't like it, but I... understand."

Deep within everyone here is an urge to stay and see everything through until the end. I can see it in the face of every person present. With those three gone that would only leave Yugi, Kaiba, Bonz, Manda and myself. Slowly, we are drawing closer to the end. Slowly.

"Go on through," Yugi said, laying a comforting palm on Rabbit's shoulder. Her eyes darted to Manda and she seemed to deliberate for a moment longer before she followed the instruction, becoming the first to leave through the portal. Gar chewed on the inside of his cheek and sloped off after her, very displeased.

"It would be great if this was all part of the game, wouldn't it?" Boxer grumbled, gritting his teeth.

"Sadly, this isn't some piece of crap advertising stunt, so if you wouldn't mind..." Kaiba gestured towards the portal.

Boxer let out a disapproving hum and scowled as he disappeared through the portal. There was a strange rippling sensation in the pit of my stomach as the portal crunched into itself and disappeared. I rolled my shoulders subtly and scanned the rest of the group.

"Well," Manda said, hugging her coat close, "what happens now?"

There was no response.

"Are we just supposed to wait for him to pop up again with another challenge?"

Yugi dipped his head and hummed, his amethyst eyes glistening, "it would seem so."

Bones shifted in the corner of my eye. I twisted to look at him, watching him fold his arms and tense, his tendons standing starkly. His eyes were shadowed deeply, those dark orbs blankly staring from behind his glasses.

There was a soft tapping from the window. I turned towards it, wincing has a high pitched squealing noise scraped itself off the glass panes. A young Mokuba peered up, his mouth downset into a stark expression.

"Mokuba," Kaiba breathed, his fingers curling into fists so tight his skin flushing white.

"Ignore him," Manda advised, nudging his side with her shoulder. She looked up at him with her deeply hazel eyes and I couldn't help but think his gaze lingered so long because her eyes looked like Mokuba's. He sneered and knocked her back with his arm, face pulling into a twisted grimace. Mokuba tapped the glass, tiny fingernails scraping. Like zombies attracted to the stink of flesh, I could see other duellists loading in the area around us.

"Come on," Yugi urged the tall brunette, "we should move on."

Mokuba stopped scraping his fingers and looked up. He was younger than the current Mokuba, an echo from the past. Not as small as he used to be, not as slender and thin.

"Big brother," the young boy whispered, "big brother, I'm scared. They're going to eat me."

His face seemed to fall back to the bone as he trembled, a small, cold little boy, "big brother, please, help... me..."

His mouth opened a red streak fell from his mouth, spattering onto his t-shirt. His mouth opened into a pained cry, as his gums grew wizened and black and one by one, his teeth slipped out, white teeth that were rotten on the inside. He coughed and moaned under his breath, wheezing as he fell to his knees. We all stayed still, feet glued into place, eyes wide and fixed on his fragile body as it was rendered into flesh and muscle and bone, until there was nothing but black gunk.

"You know, I think he's trying to give you nightmares," Manda said weakly.

Kaiba's face was wretched, his mouth spread into a thin line. I was willing to bet that somewhere, locked inside that chest, there was a shocked little cry reverberating through his lungs. Bonz pressed a hand against his side, wincing. He was watching the liquid roll away into the drains.

"When I find this guy, I'm going to kill him," Bonz said slowly, certainly, "he deserves it. He really does. Who the fuck does this shit..."

"A bad, bad boy," Manda said, squinting, "and I hate to reiterate, but we really need to go before we get trapped in here with that lot and have to battle the living shit out of everyone."

"We just need to move on," I said finally, "we can't stay here, and we're just... getting close."

"Mmm," Yugi agreed, "we are getting close. He's cutting the group down. We thought that was a good thing, but maybe it's not. Our strength comes from our friends. At the end, who will we stand with if not them?"

"Please, you met them like ten minutes ago, you dweeb," Kaiba snarked.

Manda swatted at his arm and scowled, "shush."

Bonz shook his head and shoved his way out the door, his feet trekking prints into the black-stained pavement. The others gave each other nervous looks.

"I swear, if I get stabbed..." Manda muttered, following along sheepishly.

"Then I'll find the longest sharpest thing in this goddamn game and shove it right between their ribs," Bonz growled. My leg twinged as though in memory of the Blue-Eyes bite and I winced.

"Well I appreciate the sentiment, I think," Manda said breezily after a moment's pause.

There was a scoffing noise from behind us.

"I'd appreciate it if you kept your mouth shut too," she said, turned to squint over her shoulder.

Yugi shushed her gently, rubbing at his brows, "thankfully, this mess is nearly over."

"Don't say that," Kaiba grimaced, "every time you and your little friendship flock say stuff like that, everything gets worse."

* * *

 **I hope that wasn't as painful to read as it was to write. XD Writing up IRL duels are exhausting! I hope you guys appreciate my effort here. ;) Remember to Review, please!**


	23. Bones 2

**Hi guys, I'm back with a brand spanking new chapter filled with action. I hope you all enjoy! Please don't forget to review, it really revs my brain up. :) As usual, I own NOTHING.**

* * *

 **Bonz**

I'm not a small little creature for someone to step on. I'm strong, with tendons sharper than piano wire. I don't want to walk around like a bleating lamb waiting to get killed and do nothing about it. So my next step is to get another weapon. Something sharp and strong, something that can run these pathetic imitation humans through. I want to see them bleed and break. I want to gore them, because... how dare they? How _dare_ they even try, these fragile strings of code and audio.

The group are moving on, running ahead and trying to escape the clamouring group of AIs. A taller boy had grasped hold of Cuber, throwing his weight onto the ground. In a moment, his head cracks against the ground with a dull thunk. I can imagine, in true Mortal Kombat fashion, his skull crackling from entry wound outwards, pale bone chipped and broken into chunks. There's no blood. He probably hasn't hurt himself that badly, a concussion at worst.

I kind of wish he was hurt, just so the group was smaller, but then, the group IS getting smaller. People are dropping off the chessboard. Kaiba is already ripping the AIs off the smaller boy, snarling and raging. Yugi was already struggling as two young girls grappled at his jacket, trying to pull him down, ripping at him with nails.

Cuber struggled to his feet, his cheek weeping blood from several welts. Manda was already moving, grasping a Emma AI and headbutting her. I hauled my weight against an older male, pushing him down to the ground. I drew my fist back and crunched it into his nose, his eye, his cheek, over and over, his face a bloody pulsing mess as he disappeared into pixels.

I stood, shoving my glasses back into place. There was a red smear across the left lens.

"Bones," Manda said, breathless, "Come on."

Cuber staggered and leaned against Kaiba, his body crumpled and all but boneless. He breathed heavily, cheeks flushed. A drip of sweat ran down his brow.

"I think you should go next," I said out loud, looking him dead in the eye, "you always seem to be getting hurt."

"I think you're forgetting that the three of you will be leaving next," Yugi said, sweeping his long bangs out of his face, "and it's a good thing to. It's about time we got to the root of the problem."

"What are you saying, that we're the ones slowing you down? Sorry for getting stuck in your bullshit, man," I said, rolling my eyes. I took my glasses off and wiped my lenses.

Yugi's eyes slid towards me, mouth setting in a worried line.

"You know what," I said, scratching dried blood off my cheek, "I'm so tired of you guys. I think that you'll all end up shredded to pieces by the end of all this."

More cruel words curdled on my tongue, and I tried my hardest to let them die before they slipped off. I fell quiet, eyes darting to the others, one by one. Kaiba hardly seemed fazed by my words. Manda had a strange kind of expression I can only describe as, 'meh.' Cuber just looked like he needed to wander into A and E and collapse.

I snorted under my breath and folded my arms, gritting my teeth.

"If you're so determined to whine-" Kaiba started.

"Shhh," Manda sighed, showing her elbow into his side. He almost wheezed and set upon her a sharp glare, "be nice, he might shiv you in your sleep."

"He would have to get through a ton of security to even say a word to me outside of here," Kaiba said, his chin raising.

"Not technically," Manda said, shrugging, "right now you're sleeping in a pod somewhere, I'm guessing not far from the rest of us, so if he really wanted to he could, because he's gonna wake up way before you are, I'm guessing."

His lashes lowered, his mouth curling into a sneer, "he's welcome to try."

Manda seemed to grow closer to him, her upturned face gazing longingly at his face, a dull pink on her cheeks. Pfft. I bet she's gotten herself a good angle to look at him from. If this was a sappy romance, I bet she'd be swept up into his arms and his mouth would be crushing hers ... but this isn't a romance and Kaiba is a mega ass. I do not understand the appeal.

"Well, just because we punched these guys down doesn't mean we should stand around like clowns," I said finally. Manda blinked and took a step back, refreshing herself to the situation at hand.

"Yeah," she agreed.

Cuber barely responded, his head hanging low.

"He concussed or something?" I asked.

Manda shrugged, tucking back a strand of greasy hair, "won't matter if we get him back home soon. Now, let's go hide out in a building til Mister Wankster gets tired of waiting for shit to go down."

"Sounds about right," I muttered.

"Let's try another shop," Yugi said, "although we're in the virtual world, I could use something to eat."

"You can eat all day if you want, but you won't feel any better for it," Kaiba sighed, rolling his eyes.

Manda looked down at her more-than-ample bosom, "Sometimes, I really beg the differ."

He followed her eyes and snorted, "I think your chest would imply I'm correct here."

Manda winced and put a hand against her heart, "big oof."

"Rude." I said curtly, shooting him a glare.

He snorted, "whatever, dweeb."

Yugi ran a hand through his hair, exhaling thickly through his nose, "guys, please. Let's move on."

He glanced around, picked out a building seemingly at random, and started walking towards it, the low heels of his boots making quiet thuds against the pavement. I stalked after him, my eyes peeled in search of a weapon. Kaiba strode ahead and opened up the door, sweeping straight up the apartment stairs. We traipsed after him. We ended up inside a living room, squished together on a sofa.

"Why go into so much detail when you could have just had locked doors?" Manda wondered aloud.

"Premier players will be able to _'rent'_ their own private apartment to duel from there. Think of them as privatised PVP arenas you can make a lot more personal."

I raised a brow and grimaced, "whatever."

Manda huffed quietly under her breath and leaned back into the sofa, curling up in her jacket.

"I wonder how long we'll be here," Cuber wondered aloud, his voice somewhat slurred and distant.

"I couldn't tell you," Yugi sighed.

"It was rhetorical," Cuber mumbled.

There was a warm moment of silence.

"When I wake up, I'm gonna chow down on the greasiest pizza I can find," Manda sighed, licking her lips, "or maybe a Chinese..."

"Maybe a salad-" Kaiba muttered. I threw a swift punch at his forearm. He turned around, snapping his jaw tight and looking as if he wanted to throw a punch back. Wedged between Manda and Yugi, he couldn't actually reach around unless he actively got up; the curse of being extremely tall and trapped between other people. I shot him a dirty smirk.

For the moment, it was quiet. Quiet and dark, the world on the brink of a wild storm. The back of my head whined like a buzz saw in the silence, which was so loud it felt like it was vibrating all around me. All these different people breathing. All these different rhythms. Too many people, breathing.

Too many ( **many** ) people (PEOPLE) breathing ( _breathing_ ) and the noise won't go away. Can't go away unless they go away, and that won't _(can't)_ happen.

The wristband on Kaiba's wrist remained resolutely quiet, no matter how many times he scowled at it. I stood and paced the room.

"Oh, come the fuck on," Manda moaned under her breath, shooting it her own special glare. Her lips drew into an exasperated pout, "the more nothing happens, the worse this feels."

"I know," I muttered, "it's taking too long."

"It's taking too long?" Kaiba shifted and stood, "what, exactly, is taking too long?"

"Don't read too much into it," I sneered, "I only mean that this whole situation is dragging it's heels in the mud."

"We all wanna stay, so we're all together and all that, but on the same route, we all kinda wanna go home too, you know?" Manda said, trying to mediate the situation.

I gave a terse nod, shoving my fists in my jean pockets. Kaiba towered above me, leaning over to stare me out.

"Wow," Manda sighed, "if this gets any more intense, there will be kissing and the fan-girls will go absolutely crazy. A whole new brand of yoai."

I turned to give her a cold look, "I think you've forgotten that shit like that doesn't apply in reality."

"I think you've forgotten we're not technically _in_ reality," Manda beamed, waggling her brows.

Kaiba sneered and withdraw from me, "don't think this is over," he warned, "I don't trust any of you."

"You couldn't trust a corpse," I snorted, "hell, you couldn't trust a stray puppy. I bet you'd sit there contemplating if it had a bomb strapped to it or some shit."

"Pft, only a dweeb would make such a stupid comparison."

He gave a sharp little laugh, his teeth pressed together like pearly white scales.

Manda sniffed, her nose crinkling, "hey, can you smell something burning?"

I inhaled. True to form, I could smell a faint tinge of smoke teasing my nostrils.

"Wha- where is it coming from?" Yugi said, standing up. He strode to the window and looked out.

"It's coming from beneath us," I said solemnly.

"Beneath?" Manda repeated, puzzled, as she began to stand.

"Look at the hallway," I said, "there's smoke thickening down there."

"We have to get out," Yugi said, his eyes widening.

"Can we even get out from downstairs now?" Manda said, her Liverpudlian accent thickening.

"We have to try," Yugi replied grimly. I set off down the stairs, the smoke billowing. I could feel growing heat. The door was so close.

"We can still get out," Manda cried, reaching for the door knob. The group of us spilled out on to the street.

"So where was the fire?" I said, looking around wild eyed.

Kaiba scowled, his features darkening, "it was an illusion," he snarled, "a trick to make us leave our little hidey hole."

"That's right," came a cool voice, "because I'm here to take care of you now."

The pale skinned Brit skimmed us all with his cool gaze, "rather than cards, I brought something a little sharper to play with. I thought it might lead to a... much more pointed ending."

The switch-blade clasped in his palm, the teen grinned down at us maliciously, "I look forward to ripping out your heart, little Yugi."

"I can tell you what's going to happen," I interrupted, lips spreading into a long grin, "I can tell you that knife in your hand is going to be in my hand in a minute, and-"

I stopped. Froze. Pain surged from my lower back, spreading unevenly through my muscles.

"And?" queried a soft voice, "and you'll get stabbed in the back for being to slow to guard it?"

"F-fuck..." I spat, a deep shivering rolling up my spine as my pain ascended into burning agony. Who was behind me? Who fucking stabbed me? There was a white hot burn as the knife slipped out from my back. Wetness spread along my back.

"Master Marik must always be protected," came the voice again. I twisted around, stumbling over my feet. A tall, dark male, his face half-covered in tattoos and hair pulled back into a thin, straggly little wisp of a pony tale.

"Leave him alone," Manda shouted, her voice echoing. It was like she was shouting a thousand times at once. She was the only one who was running to my aid, while Yugi seemed stupefied with shock, trying to hold Cuber up. Kaiba was trying to grasp the blade from Bakura's arm, muscles in both male's arms tensing.

Everything was happening so fast. Everything _(is still happening)_ so fast, and my eyes are burning, my chest wheezing (is that me making that stupid mewling noise) and body cramping up in agony.

Manda leaned over me, shielding my body, her red hair falling over her face, "please, no, we haven't lost anyone in this so far, please don't let this happen, Bones! Bones!"

So what happens... if I fall asleep here? Would it really ... be so-

* * *

 **So. Was it what you were expecting? Did you enjoy it? Remember to R-n-R!**

 **PS. Sorry Bones! I had to do it! The plot bunnies were gonna eat me up otherwise!**


	24. Rabbit 3

**Long chapter with plot progress to make up for the lack of updates. XD Enjoy, and please click the button at the bottom that says review. I really appreciate all reviews I get and they really spur me on. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Rabbit**

I'm awake. My back hurts, the stench of sweat clouding around me. My hands rise, palms pressing against the glass cover. My palm leaves smudges against the fogged cover, leaving a tiny avenue of sight. The lid makes a small noise of release as it begins to pull away, and the sweet, fresh air is so very welcome to me I breathe in great, dizzying gulps. The machine hums a shrill beeping noise, and I all but slide around in the damn thing when I shift my weight. The sweat... my god. It was so wet my stomach churned. The noise stops abruptly.

I sat up quick as I dared and raked my fingers through my hair. I immediately grimaced; my hair is stuck in wet slithers and clumps. I slipped from the bed, wincing at the painful cramp in my bowels, the one that says; good news! You didn't evacuate your bowels somewhere inappropriately, but also says (in subtext), we'd really like to go NOW though.

Which is fair, really. I walked very slowly, guts stirring painfully, trying to find a bathroom. There's got to be one nearby, right? True to my thoughts, there's one not too far. It's tucked away through a few looping corridors and says STAFF but I slip in anyway. I pop into a cubicle and sort myself out and then go wash my hands. My reflection in the mirror is grim. I look like I've been at the gym for a full day, crashing around and sweating for hours on end without a towel to even daub my face with. My eyes burn.

I turned the tap back on. The sink isn't terribly deep, but it should do enough to wash some of the sweat out my hair. I shrugged out of my jacket and dunked my head under, drag my hair through my fingers and soak it best as I can, going so far as to run squirty liquid soap through it. I yanked my top up, glancing towards the door to check for anyone rushing in during my impromptu bath, wet my armpits and add hand-wash onto them. A quick scrub means they don't smell quite so bad but my clothes smell like no amount of fabric softener and detergent can save them.

Somewhere, I knew the others are likely doing the same thing, waking up reeking of sweat and desperate to feel clean again. I swallowed thickly and leaned down to swallow some water from the tap. My stomach clenched. I tasted the chemicals in the water, a kind of iron-y taste that seemed to cling to my tonsils. I don't even really like water, but needs must, and next, on the 'needs-must' list, I need food. A real drink. A proper rest. I need to curl up somewhere comfortable and just relax.

It feels like I've woken up from a long nightmare. Everything is comforting in it's 'realness,' in its gritty texture and dim colours. A normal building. A normal world and place, without monsters. At least, without mythical card-game monsters.

I make my way back to the room, skimming the other pods anxiously. If memory serves, Manda, Boxer, and Cuber came in with me. I squint through the glass, peering at the body inside. Manda. She looks about as attractive as I feel right now, sweat coated as she is. I wish I could just pull them all out. It looks like it should be so easy, ripping the lids off and pulling them out, giving them a few reviving slaps to the face.

I shook my head. If it was that easy it would have already been done. I rub my eyes tiredly. The machine is still making a beeping noise, but it's quieter, more of a grumble. It's tolerable, if nothing else. Someone will come and turn it off soon, hopefully. These machines deserve nothing else than to the be turned off.

I rub my eyes on again. Before all this had begun, I'd applied a light base of make up. It was now probably smudged to oblivion, considering dried clumps of mascara have come off on my fingers and knuckles. I shivered slightly. The remnants of water was making me feel chilly now I'd peeled the grime off my body.

I went along to the next pod and peered in. Oh boy, I could smell this one. It was empty, so I could probably assume that it had been Boxer's pod. I checked the next and found Cuber. I wonder where Boxer if, considering he seems to have already disappeared. Perhaps he woke up while I was away cleaning myself up, though it's possible that he might have already been up and disappeared by the time I had woken up.

I took in a jagged breath and walked out of the room, slipping my way through the corridor and out of the building. I leaned against the brick wall and closed my eyes, feeling the wind against my face. It was so nice, so cold. It was refreshing. The silence was wonderfully filled with traffic in the distance, with the whispers of tree branches wavering under the wind.

"Miss Walton?" A young man is sunglasses walked towards me, his face a slate of emotionless flesh, "sorry to keep you waiting. We've been having some issues."

"Yes... I gathered," I said, straightening up.

"Please come along. The others are waiting."

I gave a single nod and stood beside him. The two of us set off towards the bigger buildings.

"Apparently Master Kaiba's private shower is currently open to the public," the security guard said, lip pulling back into a grimace, "I suppose you'll be wanting to slip in too. Those boys have already probably disgraced it... he will most certainly not be happy with Master Mokuba's decision there."

"I would rather go get a proper bath at home thanks, not a... random splash in a stranger's bathroom. Even if I do smell like something died."

He scoffed, "I doubt you could afford anything along the quality of Master Kaiba's suite. Your idea of a 'proper bath' may as well be in a tin can."

I tutted under my breath, "you seem a bit uncertain of what I should want here. Do I want to slip into his shower because of Kaiba, or because of the pure, unadulterated quality of the bloody shower?"

He growled under his breath.

"Or, I could be wrong here, but you seem very interested in Kaiba's shower. Maybe you'd like to slip into it. Maybe you'd love to wait for Kaiba inside of it, get it all steamy and that, you know..."

"How dare you even insinuate-"

"Insinuate what? That you'd be a good little boy and get the shower all warmed up for your master?"

"Stop it!" his voice grew into a snarl and he stormed off ahead. I increased my pace, lingering as close to him as I dared. He all but frogmarched me to Kaiba's office, leaving me outside the door. I gently rapped on the door and let myself in. Despite all the people inside, my eyes were instantly drawn to the chair and desk in the centre of the room. It was almost like a feature, the way it blocked out the light from the window and cast a long shadow. A young male glanced up at me and gestured for me to come in.

I closed the door behind me and shot him a quick smile, eyes now turning over the rest of the room.

"Your friends have gone to go get some food from the canteen," the male said drily, "you're welcome to join them, after we're done here."

"Right," I said quietly, "but I don't think there's anything they won't have already told you."

He shrugged, "at this point, no, probably not, but getting all of this down and documented will be important."

"Won't the police do this?:

He gave a slow, tired smile, "we don't pay a private security force just to get the police in and let Kaibaland under scrutiny. We'll be doing this ourselves, and let me assure you... We'll do it better than the poor man's police ever could, " he sighed heavily and grumbled under his breath, "even if our system seems to be going to shit, today of all days. The damn cameras aren't even working in the park at the moment."

The poor man's police. I bit down on the inside of my cheek and give a noncommittal hum.

"Right, well... ask away?"

* * *

Eventually, I am free to go wander the park. I know the others are around somewhere, but for now, I just want to be alone. I'm tired of feeling like someone is hanging over my shoulder, and I seem to be in two minds. I feel like things aren't quite real, even though, refreshingly so, they are, and I feel absolutely overshadowed despite the isolation I have enforced on myself.

I ruffle my wet hair and stare around the park. The metal rides creak quietly under the wind, the proud dragons rising up from the ground, stone eyes peering down at me as though in judgement.

I rub my eyes and sit on the dragon's base, beginning to chew my thumb.

"What are you doing here?" a soft voice says. I look up; a tall man stares down at me, his eyes watery green. His hair is an unusual colour, a shade that almost reminds me of- well. It's a nice colour, but I cannot put my mind of the exact shade I would call it.

"I would have thought you would be in with your friends."

I shake my head, smiling awkwardly, "I just wanted a bit of time to myself. What about you? What brings you here?"

He smiles and lifts a briefcase, tapping the handle with a finger, "just business, I'm afraid."

"Ah. I don't know if you'll be conducting much business today," I said, teeth beginning to shred the skin of my lip. The breeze catches at my clothes and I wince at the reek of sweat.

"Sorry about this," I said, gesturing at myself, "I found myself in a very hot situation that even a vat of deodorant couldn't quite remove."

He shakes his head, smiling wryly, "it is no matter... I am here to help with this, 'business,' you see, the very same you earlier escaped from."

"I see," I said, gazing at him directly. His face was extremely regal and handsome. The more I looked at him, the more I seemed to see. His nails were manicured, but there was traces of bite marks. An anxious person, like myself, then? A pin on his suit lapel that shone, well cared for. It looked expensive, too, weighty.

"So how are you going to help?"

His lips curved, "my briefcase has everything I need."

And that meant what, exactly? Was there a laptop in there, some kind of pod-related technology fail-safe?

"Well... thanks for taking the time to say hello," I said, smiling.

"It's no problem. I wanted to see how you were all faring in any case."

"Ah. So covering Kaiba-corp's legal bases, then?"

He rolled his shoulders, "you could say that."

With that, he sent me a parting smile and walked away from me. I turned my gaze down to my hands, inhaling softly. After a long pause, I shift and stand, looking around. Still quiet. My British senses, however, are tingling. They tell me I need to go find a cup of tea and sit somewhere warm. Somewhere people are talking in the background and just being companionable.

Instead, I opt for the opposite. I head back towards the pod block and sidle inside, finding my way back to where the pod room is. I slip in, rubbing my arms as they ripple with goosebumps. It seems colder in here. Actually, it seems much, much colder in here. Did they turn down the rooms temperature in the hopes of easing the sweaty messes no doubt waiting inside each pod. I check each pod, trying to squint through the fogged glass with little success.

I make my way back into the corridor and head further into the building. Through peering through the doors, I find the other room with the pods in. The room is as cold as the other is now, making me shiver slightly. I check the pods, skimming each one. Of all these pods, I don't see Yugi or Kaiba. I guess they are in a different room. I continue my exploration.

A lot of this place is neatly set up rooms, tidy office work areas with monitors and computer towers set up. A lot of them seem empty today; I wonder if all the workers in this sector were sent home after the trouble hit home.

I find a flight of stairs and ascend them. My nerves bubble and I feel the hairs on my arm raise. Goosebumps, shivers, and all things nice... I lick my dry lips as I reach the top. The carpet is the same blue as downstairs. It probably hides stains really well. From here, I can see a translucent door with a key-card box lit green beside it. Green. Open. Should it be open, though? It doesn't seem like the kind of door that should be left open. I lean forward and give it a push. No alarm. The key-card box thing still glows green. How inviting. I slip in and continue down the corridor.

There are less offices in here so much as there is technology and designs. I peak in one room and find a pod design pinned to the wall with heavy annotations. I can't help but smile when I realise they are trying to make the pods a little more decorative, with several designs of duel monsters tacked on nearby.

I leave the room, heading towards the large room that finishes off the upstairs space. There's another key card lock on this door, but just like the other one, it glows green. I wonder who has been here? Or if someone is still here. I push against the door. This room is dark, illuminated by red and green little flecks of light a coming from rows and rows of cabinets, lined up like bookshelves in a library in L shapes, cutting off any straight ahead view of the room. I immediately have to turn to my right to see the space and begin to walk through the curving walkway.

A row down, and there is a TV fixed to the wall, the KC logo swirling around lazily.

There are so many cables in here, interlocking and pinned down out of the way I keep glancing down just to check where my feet are, just in case. There's a blind at the end of the room, I think, blocking out the daylight.

Under the hum of electronics, I can hear a soft typing noise. Someone is in the room with me.

I don't dare speak. Even if it's someone who belongs here, working their usual shift, something is telling me to be quiet. I stop at the end of the final row, breathing as quietly as I can with my hand over my mouth to the muffle the sound. That man again. He's sat in the corner, his briefcase open. His fingers are twirling around a memory stick but his eyes are stuck on the computer screen ahead of him. In this corner, he must be cramped, his little desk and computer set up pushed into the corner so tightly. He's got a slight smile tugging at his lips.

Why is he smiling? This not a good situation for anyone. I slip out of the corner and quietly trek my way back out of the door. I shut it as quietly as I can, breathing shakily. Why am I so damn shaky? He's just a worker, right? How crazy would it be for him to be anything more? You're being silly. Overthinking. Go back in and ask him if you need to, but he already SAID he's helping Kaiba...

I turn on my heel and freeze. The key-card box is glowing red, the door sealed shut. If I try to open it now, then that would mean it either wouldn't open or it would trigger an alarm, or both. I go over to it and press my palms against the door, swallowing back terror as I try to push. There is no alarm. There is just the door, jarred shut.

I hear the door open behind me and turn to look, pushing my glasses and swallowing heavily.

"Hi, I was just... exploring."

"I know. I saw."

He shook his head, a bemused smile playing at his lips, "I'm reworking the cameras, you see. They work much better for me"

"That's nice," I said weakly, "would you mind getting the door for me?"

"I would sooner you left the door alone."

"Please," I said, my voice almost breaking, "please let me out. You're just doing your job, right?"

He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. There was a smile growing again, deceptively kindly.

"Excuse me," he said, slipping his hand into his pocket to retrieve his phone. His fingers skimmed the touchscreen, his phone giving off a quiet vibration as a message sent.

"The database should update in just a minute," he said, "and then you won't have anything to worry about."

"W-what?"

My legs suddenly grew limp beneath me and I fell to the floor with a grunt.

"These little nanobots... they latch onto your cells. I can make them do more than give you a heart attack, or push you in or out of virtual reality."

My eyes fluttered, vision fading, breathing relaxing.

"We can just call this... a little coma. No VR... just..."

... sleep?


End file.
